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Atomization and Sprays

Journal of the International Institutes for Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems

ISSN for PRINT: 1045-5110

Institutional price:	$787.00
Issues per year:	8

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

1992, Volume2

76 pages

Issue price - $75.00

FLAT-SHEET TWIN-FLUID ATOMIZATION OF HIGH-VISCOSITY FLUIDS. PART I: NEWTONIAN LIQUIDS

Keith E. Knoll
Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center, School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907

Paul E. Sojka
Maurice J. Zucrow Laboratories (formerly Thermal Sciences and Propulsion Center), School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

ABSTRACT

Mean drop size data are presented for single-phase Newtonian fluids of varying viscosity sprayed using a two-dimensional research nozzle. The effect of liquid viscosity on mean drop size is observed to be nearly constant over the range of the test matrix, with Sauter mean diameter (SMD) proportional to μ^0.2. As expected, SMD is observed to increase with liquid discharge slot width, t_L but only at conditions of high viscosity and low aerodynamic shear. As fluid viscosity is reduced or aerodynamic shear is increased, the dependence on liquid film thickness becomes negligibly small. No effect of air discharge slot width was observed for the range of conditions employed in this study. The data also indicate that an increase in relative velocity, V_R, results in a decrease in spray mean drop size, with the degree of reduction being dependent on the viscosity of the fluid being sprayed. Finally, the influence of air-liquid ratio (ALR) on atomization was constant over the entire test matrix, varying with the square root of (1 + 1/ALR), This dependence was noted by Jasuja [3] when spraying liquids whose viscosities were much lower than those reported here. The data were analyzed using a control-volume approach and an expression provided that relates mean drop size to ALR, V_R, t_L the liquid density, and surface tension, plus a parameter termed e that describes the fraction of atomizing air that contributes all of its energy to increasing the surface energy of the droplets.