Atomization and Sprays Journal of the International Institutes for Liquid Atomization and Spray Systems

ISSN for PRINT: 1045-5110

For Online Access

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1995, Volume5

Issue 6

121 pages

Issue price - $75.00

Uri Shavit
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA

Norman Chigier
Spray Systems Technology Center, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie-Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Fractal dimensions of gas−liquid interfaces were measured in the breakup region of disintegrating liquid jets. The liquid jet was surrounded by an annular gas jet, and both were injected through a coaxial atomizer. The gas−liquid interface was categorized by a fractal set with dimensions and cutoffs that were found to be related to the physical processes of atomization. Using the fractal representation, it was possible to quantify the level of tortuosity of the gas−liquid interface and to examine its influence on both the stability of the liquid jet and the formation of droplets and their size distribution. The fractal dimension was measured as a function of axial location and a range of air and liquid velocities. The fractal dimension increases sharply from 1.0, at the nozzle exit, to a peak value at the breakup region, and then gradually decreases as the distance from the breakup region increases. It was found that the peak fractal dimension and the breakup point are at approximately the same axial location. The inner and outer cutoffs of the fractal sets are of the same order of magnitude as both the air turbulence length scales and the range of drop size. The average drop size was found to be proportional to an average interface length scale that was calculated based on the fractal representation.

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