A Numerical Calibration Approach to Obtain Cutting Fluid Droplet Sizes in a Turning Process via an Imaging System

Airborne inhalable particulate in the workplace can represent a significant health hazard, and one of the primary sources of particles is mist produced through the application of cutting fluids in machining operations. The atomization process is one of the principal mechanisms associated with cutting fluid mist formation and generates droplets from fifty to a few thousand micrometers in size. These particles subsequently undergo vaporization and settling effects resulting in an aerosol to which workers may be exposed. While a variety of equipment is available to characterize the fine particulate in the breathing zone, standard equipment to measure the size of the atomized droplets is not available. In this paper, an imaging system is employed to characterize the large droplets produced by atomization in turning. One of the drawbacks of such a system is the time‐consuming experimental calibration procedure that is required to improve the accuracy of the droplet size measurements and extend the depth of field of the imaging system. With this in mind, an approach is introduced to predict droplet diameter based on measurement data without physical system calibration. The relationship between the actual diameter and the measured diameter is established based on an imaging system simulation model that includes a three dimensional point spread function and an image formation relationship grounded in the principles of geometric optics. These two components are combined using convolution integral theory to derive an image intensity profile. The introduction of halo width into the simulation greatly extends the image depth of field, which is a critical factor in capturing more droplets in one image and also minimizing particle size distribution bias towards larger droplets. The model predicts droplet diameter as a function of measured diameter and halo width. Model behavior of predicted diameters from the simulation compares well with those from a physical calibration of the system. The numerical calibration model is then used in the study of cutting fluid atomization in a turning process, and the measured droplet size distribution compares favorably with droplet sizes predicted by a mechanistic atomization model.     

Enhanced photoacoustic imaging in tissue-mimicking phantoms using polydopamine-shelled perfluorocarbon emulsion droplets

The current work features process parameters for the ultrasound (25 kHz)-assisted fabrication of polydopamine-shelled perfluorocarbon (PDA/PFC) emulsion droplets with bimodal (modes at 100–600 nm and 1–6 µm) and unimodal (200–600 nm) size distributions. Initial screening of these materials revealed that only PDA/PFC emulsion droplets with bimodal distributions showed photoacoustic signal enhancement due to large size of their optically absorbing PDA shells. Performance of this particular type of emulsion droplets as photoacoustic agents were evaluated in Intralipid®–India ink media, mimicking the optical scattering and absorbance of various tissue types. From these measurements, it was observed that PDA/PFC droplets with bimodal size distributions can enhance the photoacoustic signal of blood-mimicking phantom by up to five folds in various tissue-mimicking phantoms with absorption coefficients from 0.1 to 1.0 cm⁻¹. Furthermore, using the information from enhanced photoacoustic images at 750 nm, the ultimate imaging depth was explored for polydopamine-shelled, perfluorohexane (PDA/PFH) emulsion droplets by photon trajectory simulations in 3D using a Monte Carlo approach. Based on these simulations, maximal tissue imaging depths for PDA/PFH emulsion droplets range from 10 to 40 mm, depending on the tissue type. These results demonstrate for the first time that ultrasonically fabricated PDA/PFC emulsion droplets have great potential as photoacoustic imaging agents that can be complemented with other reported characteristics of PDA/PFC emulsion droplets for extended applications in theranostics and other imaging modalities.     

Size of the Detection Area of a Phase-Doppler Anemometer for reflecting and refracting particles

Measurements of particle size distributions in multi-phase flows with a phase-Doppler anemometer yield incorrect results if polydisperse particles are investigated. For weighting biased size distributions, different in situ methods, requiring the size of the detection area, are known, but all of these weighting procedures are restricted to very small measuring volumes if off-axis instrument configurations are considered. Moreover, the weighting functions have some disadvantages in the case of poor statistics in single size classes or the results are not suitable for determining the size of the detection area for particles which are larger than the beam waist. Therefore, the intention in this work was to measure the size of the detection area for different kinds of monodisperse particles, different instrument configurations and varied instrument sensitivities experimentally and to develop an improved weighting procedure that copes with the above difficulties. The application of the results obtained from the investigations with monodisperse particles to measured particle size distributions and volume flux densities of polydisperse water droplets in a spray cone of an atomizer confirms the applicability of this weighting procedure. It is still restricted to directed flows, perpendicular to the fringes.     

Experimental Analysis of the Response of a Laser/Phase Doppler Anemometer System to a Partially Atomized Spray

This work describes a systematic approach adopted to establish Laser and Phase Doppler Anemometry, LDA/PDA, experimental techniques that would allow velocity and dropsize measurements to be made over wide velocity and size ranges with confidence in partially atomized sprays. The analysis considers the sprays generated by different gasoline direct injection (GDI) systems injecting into air under atmospheric conditions. The upper limit to the dropsize range in the fuel sprays was confirmed using (a) an Oxford Lasers' VisiSizer and (b) droplets of a known size produced by a mono‐dispersed droplet generator. GDI fuel sprays are highly transient, optically dense and provide a high degree of penetration and atomization. The measurement problem is therefore one of the detection of small, high speed droplets inside a dense cloud of surrounding droplets. Furthermore, under the transients found at the start and end of injection and during high fuel loads, fuel elements in the form of sheets, ligaments and filaments are also injected. These liquid fuel elements subsequently break‐up, downstream from the nozzle, to form droplets of a much larger size class but with a much lower number density [1]. The co‐existence of these liquid fuel elements and the widely different size classes in the spray are considered to pose a problem for dropsize measurements by the PDA technique. In particular: the wide dynamic range of light intensities scattered by the fuel elements and droplets; the trajectory of large drops through the edges of the PDA measurement volume with its Gaussian intensity distribution [2] and the high probability of non spherical droplets. The work concludes that the LDA/PDA measurement technique, as applied here, is robust. It can discriminate between partially and fully atomized sprays, has a high probability of accurately measuring dropsizes larger than the measurement volume and give a realistic indication of ‘sizes’ for non spherical droplets. However, specification of the PDA system parameters must be strictly compatible with the measurement task to yield unambiguous results.     

Visualization of two phase flow inside an effervescent atomizer

Effervescent atomization is one of the twin-fluid atomization methods while it has better performance in terms of smaller drop sizes and/or lower injection pressures. In order to investigate the effects of the internal flow patterns on droplet characteristics, a new kind of effervescent atomizer was designed and manufactured. The bubble forming process was visualized with a high-speed camera, while the droplet size was characterized with a LDV/PDA system. The experimental results show that there are three regimes of the two-phase flows inside the discharge orifice, one is bubbly flow, another is annular flow while the other is the intermittent flow. The flow patterns transfered from bubbly flow to intermittent flow and then to annular flow with decreasing of the water flow rate. In addition, with increasing of the working pressure or decreasing of the water flow rate, the SMD (Sauter mean diameter) of the droplets decreased and the axial mean velocity increased.     

Absorption and Scattering of Light by Highly Concentrated Two‐phase Flows

The spray cone emerging during an extended metal atomization process (called spray forming) has been investigated in order to quantify the influence of highly concentrated multiphase flows on phase‐Doppler‐anemometry (PDA) measurements. Using this non‐intrusive, optical measurement technique not only the local particle size and velocity distributions of the spray can be obtained but also additional information about the mass flux in the multiphase flow. Since standard phase‐Doppler systems can be easily applied to low concentrated particle systems (spherical particles with smooth surfaces and an optical transparent continuous phase taken for granted) the application of this measurement technique to highly concentrated multiphase flows is more complex. Both the laser light propagating from the PDA device to the probe volume and the scattered one going backward to the PDA receiving system are disturbed by passing the highly concentrated multiphase flow. The resulting significant loss in signal quality especially concerns the measurement of the smaller particles of the spray because of their reduced silhouette (in comparison with the bigger ones). Thus, the detection of the smallest particles becomes partially impossible leading to measurement of a distorted diameter distribution of the entire particle collective. In this study the distortions of the measured distributions dependent on the particle number concentration as well as on the path length of the laser light are discussed.     

Determination of particle size in multiphase blends by different methods

Different methods for characterizing the morphology of multiphase blends were applied to a blend of thermoplastic polyurethane with 20 wt% polypropylene as the dispersed phase. Optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and light scattering were compared. The microscopy methods were evaluated with respect to their suitability for quantitative image analysis for determination of the particle size distribution. Comparison of the particle size distributions revealed that the dependence of the measured particle size on the method of preparation and technique was not very pronounced. The main difference resulted from cutting the particles outside their maximum diameter. The measured particle sizes determined with methods that analyze the whole particles, such as SEM on separated particles and laser light scattering, are larger than those measured on cut specimens. The factor 4/π valid in monodisperse systems for the ratio between the real particle size and that measured on sections was found also to be applicable to this polydisperse blend system. Although light micros-copy requires the least preparation efforts, it is a reliable method for this blend system.     

A digital image analysis technique for quantitative characterisation of high-speed sprays

A digital image analysis technique developed as a particle or droplet sizing tool and capable of measuring non-spherical objects has been examined in terms of its suitability for quantitative measurements in moderately dense sprays and in particular the potential capability for the characterisation of small diameter, high-speed two-phase flows by employing high-intensity pulsed lasers for illumination. In order to evaluate robustness of the image analysis technique (PDIA), measurement certainty and also to assess whether measurement performance is sensitive to the optical set-up, the technique was applied to data obtained from a hollow cone spray via two independent optical configurations which employed firstly a diode laser and secondly an Nd:YAG laser. The calibration response of the two optical set-ups revealed significant differences in terms of the depth-of-field characteristics and thus effective measurement volume dimensions. Despite these differences, a comparison of PDIA spray data revealed excellent agreement between the two datasets for measured diameters in the range 10–90 μm in the number distributions which not only confirmed robustness of the technique but also the potential of PDIA for the measurement of fast, small diameter objects. Subsequent comparisons of the PDIA data were made with PDA data obtained within the same spray in space and time and showed excellent agreement between the two techniques for droplets larger than approximately 25 μm in diameter. Discrepancies between PDIA and PDA were observed in the volume size distributions for the larger droplets measured whose diameters were greater than approximately 40 μm. This discrepancy is due to the ability of PDIA to measure the diameter of non-spherical droplets which were shown to exist in significant numbers at this measurement location within the spray. In contrast, the well-established technique PDA, which relies on the assumption of droplet sphericity clearly does not detect the presence of these larger deformed droplets.     

Visualization of aggregation process of dispersed water droplets and the effect of aggregation on secondary atomization of emulsified fuel droplets

The effect of aggregation of dispersed water droplets on secondary atomization of emulsified fuel droplets in a heating process was investigated. Secondary atomization was observed using a single droplet experiment in which a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsified fuel droplet prepared using colored water was heated by a halogen heater. The initial diameter of dispersed water droplets before heating was controlled, and the change in the diameter of dispersed water droplets was measured by image analysis. As a result, the aggregation process of dispersed water droplets in the heating process was successfully visualized. The dispersed water droplet diameter increased with an increase in W/O emulsified fuel droplet temperature. The occurrence probability of micro-explosion increased with an increase in the dispersed water droplet diameter in emulsified fuel droplets. It is suggested that the occurrence probability of micro-explosion can be increased by accelerating the aggregation and coalescence of dispersed water droplets below 430 K, which is the average temperature of the starting point of puffing.     

A High Power,High Resolution LDA/PDA System Applied to Gasoline Direct Injection Sprays

A new generation LDA/PDA transmitter system has been designed and constructed. The heart of the optical system is a new type of Bragg cell. Advances in laser power handling and symmetrical splitting at high Bragg angles of the shifted and unshifted beams have made it possible to construct a simple yet elegant LDA/PDA transmitter. The optical system integrates the Bragg cell with a laser beam expander to offer variable beam separation and high beam expansion ratios to produce a measurement volume with a high spatial resolution and at high power levels. The transmitter is proving to be a significant contribution to LDA/PDA optical system design and, not only applicable as a research tool for use in flows of a demanding nature but, due to its simplicity, flexibility and cost, an asset to teaching. The LDA/PDA system is being applied to characterise the atomization of fuel by high pressure automotive injectors as found in Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engines. Although the PDA system was configured to measure two orthogonal velocity components (2D) and size, its operation was not restricted to this configuration. An analysis of the spray with the PDA system in 1D and size and the LDA system in 2D and 1D configurations indicated the complexity of the atomization and break-up processes occurring in the spray. Single-shot imaging was used to study the spatial structure of the spray as a function of time. Use of the light sheet imaging technique alone could lead to false impressions of the atomization process.     

Numerical investigation of the effects of polydisperse water sprays on extinction conditions of counterflow methane non-premixed flames

Water, sprayed in the form of tiny droplets, has emerged as a potential fire suppressant after the halon compounds such as trifluorobromomethane (CF₃Br, Halon 1301) were banned by the Montreal protocol. The size distribution of the water droplet plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of the water spray in fire suppression. A numerical investigation of the influence of size distribution of a polydisperse water spray on extinction of counterflow diffusion flames is presented in this paper. This study uses laminar finite rate model with reduced CHEMKIN chemistry for numerical simulations. The discrete phase, namely the water spray, is simulated using Lagrangian Discrete Phase Modelling approach. In this work, the polydispersity of water spray is taken into account in the numerical simulation by a suitable Rosin–Rammler distribution. Results obtained from numerical simulation are validated with the experimental results reported in the literature. This study demonstrates that the representation of the polydisperse spray by a monodisperse spray (with droplet diameter same as the SMD of the polydisperse spray) in numerical simulations is not always justified and it leads to deviation from the experimental results. The effects of number mean diameter and spread parameter on the efficacy of flame suppression are investigated for polydisperse sprays. A comprehensive comparison is done between the effectiveness of monodisperse and polydisperse water sprays. An optimum droplet diameter is obtained for monodisperse sprays for which the effectiveness of the spray is maximum. The effects of evaporation Damköhler number and Stokes number of water droplets on flame suppression have also been explained.     

Investigations into ultrasound induced atomization

The present work deals with measurements of the droplet size distribution in an ultrasonic atomizer using photographic analysis with an objective of understanding the effect of different equipment parameters such as the operating frequency, power dissipation and the operating parameters such as the flow rate and liquid properties on the droplet size distribution. Mechanistic details about the atomization phenomena have also been established using photographic analysis based on the capture of the growth of the instability and sudden ejection of droplets with high velocity. Velocity of these droplets has been measured by capturing the motion of droplets as streaks. It has been observed that the droplet size decreases with an increase in the frequency of atomizer. Droplet size distribution was found to change from the narrow to wider range with an increase in the intensity of ultrasound. The drop size was found to decrease with an increase in the fluid viscosity. The current work has clearly highlighted the approach for the selection of operating parameters for achieving a desired droplet size distribution using ultrasonic atomization and has also established the controlling mechanisms for the formation of droplet. An empirical correlation for the prediction of the droplet size has been developed based on the liquid and equipment operating properties.     

PDA and Neural Network Investigation of Swirl Spray Interaction Phenomena

Experiments are performed to investigate the atomization characteristics of mixed‐interaction regions of sprays of two swirl injectors installed side by side. Both droplet size and velocity distributions on a plane perpendicular to the axes of the injectors are measured using a PDA system. As a result of the interaction phenomenon, a region of secondary atomization is identified that differs significantly from the hollow region spray of a single swirl injector. A neural network algorithm is used to reconstruct the entire spray field for both droplet size and velocity distribution in extrapolation regimes for injector spacing as well as three dimensional spatial coordinates. Excellent agreement between the predicted values and the measurements is obtained. It is observed that points on the extrapolation regime of the neural network can be predicted with an accuracy of 93 % using a training data set with less than 50 % of the number of data points to be predicted. The results indicate the capability of performing design‐ and optimization studies for pressure‐swirl injectors, with sufficient accuracy, by applying a modest amount of data in conjunction with an overall optimized value for the width of the probability.     

Deformation of liquid droplets during collisions with hot walls: Experimental and Numerical Results

Measurements of droplet deformation during wall impingement were performed for ethanol droplets and water droplets with diameters ranging from 100 to 200 μm. The wall temperature is well above the Leidenfrost temperature of the droplet liquid. With monodisperse droplet streams and a special illumination technique, slow motion images of the phenomena can be obtained. Measurements with high temporal resolution below 1 μs are possible using a standard video camera. The experimental results are compared with numerical results, which were obtained by solving the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible fluids including surface tension effects. The fluids are treated with the volume-of-fluid method and the free surface is modeled according to the continuum-surface-force model. Numerical and experimental results show good agreement.     

Pattern formation in binary fluids confined between rough, chemically heterogeneous surfaces

Using a mesoscale model for hydrodynamics, we simulate driven flow of AB binary fluids past surfaces that contain well-defined roughness or asperities. The geometry and wetting properties of the asperities are found to have a dramatic effect on the flow patterns. We isolate conditions where the A fluid forms vertical bands that bridge the asperities and an imposed shear (or pressure gradient) drives the system to form monodisperse droplets of A within the B fluid. The size of the droplets can be tailored by varying the morphology of the asperities. The surfaces needed to create this rich dynamical behavior are used as the stamps in microcontact printing; thus, the parameter space can readily be accessed experimentally, and the predictions suggest an efficient method for forming emulsions with well-controlled morphologies.     

Working Principle and Experimental Results for a Differential Phase-Doppler Technique

By replacing the two detectors of a standard phase-Doppler anemometer (PDA) with a charge coupled device (CCD) line scan sensor, the scattered light can be measured not only with high temporal but also with improved spatial resolution. Thereby, the quantity to be measured by PDA, the phase difference ΔΦ, can be determined as function of the elevation angle υ. This allows a statistical evaluation of the received signal and permits precise measurements of the size and velocity even of non-ideal solid particles with inhomogeneous composition, aspherical shape or rough surface. In this paper, the basis of data acquisition and evaluation is described. This is followed by experimental results for glass spheres with intact and defect surfaces and, for comparison, for water droplets. These results demonstrate the potential of this measuring device, described as a differential phase-Doppler anemometer (DPDA).     

Auto-ignition of a polydisperse fuel spray

In the present paper, the effect of fuel spray polydispersity on the auto-ignition process in a fuel cloud is considered. In many engineering applications it is common practice to relate to the actual polydisperse spray as being equivalent to a monodisperse spray with all droplets therein having some average diameter. In combustion systems, the Sauter mean diameter (SMD) is frequently used for this purpose; it is based on the ratio between the total droplet volume and the total droplet surface area of all the droplets in the polydisperse spray. The main purpose of the current work is to examine qualitatively the dynamics of ignition of a truly polydisperse spray in a combustible gas medium and compare it with the dynamics of an equivalent monodisperse spray based on the SMD. Since the system of governing equations represents a multi-scale problem the method of integral manifolds is applied in order to extract the dynamical behavior. Preliminary computed results suggest that the use of the usual SMD-based monodisperse spray leads to quite a significant over-estimate of the ignition time. An alternative modified definition of the SMD, in which the overall liquid fuel volume is also conserved in the averaging process, reduces the discrepancy between the ignition time for the polydisperse spray and that of the equivalent monodisperse spray. However, it seems that some other sort of average droplet size needs to be determined to minimize the aforementioned discrepancy. These results highlight the care that must be exercised before dispensing with the behavior of the actual polydisperse spray in favor of that of an equivalent monodisperse spray, even at the expense of complexity.     

Evaluation method for radiative heat transfer in polydisperse water droplets

Simplifications of the model for nongray radiative heat transfer analysis in participating media comprised of polydisperse water droplets are presented. Databases of the radiative properties for a water droplet over a wide range of wavelengths and diameters are constructed using rigorous Mie theory. The accuracy of the radiative properties obtained from the database interpolation is validated by comparing them with those obtained from the Mie calculations. The radiative properties of polydisperse water droplets are compared with those of monodisperse water droplets with equivalent mean diameters. Nongray radiative heat transfer in the anisotropic scattering fog layer, including direct and diffuse solar irradiations and infrared sky flux, is analyzed using REM². The radiative heat fluxes within the fog layer containing polydisperse water droplets are compared with those in the layer containing monodisperse water droplets. Through numerical simulation of the radiative heat transfer, polydisperse water droplets can be approximated by using the Sauter diameter, a technique that can be useful in several research fields, such as engineering and atmospheric science. Although this approximation is valid in the case of pure radiative transfer problems, the Sauter diameter is reconfirmed to be the appropriate diameter for approximating problems in radiative heat transfer, although volume-length mean diameter shows better accordance in some cases. The CPU time for nongray radiative heat transfer analysis with a fog model is evaluated. It is proved that the CPU time is decreased by using the databases and the approximation method for polydisperse particulate media.     

Video techniques applied to the characterization of liquid sheet breakup

The understanding of the disintegration of a thin liquid film is the first step to obtain an accurate model of air-blast atomization. Various physical phenomena are involved in liquid sheet breaking. Planar sheets are often studied, assuming that the sheet behavior is representative of the behavior of real annular sheets, because their investigation is easier using optical techniques. Those kinds of measurements have been applied to determine and quantify the different steps of droplet generation. Global oscillation of the liquid sheet, ligaments formation and their breaking are approached. The evolution of ligament spacing according to oscillation frequency removes the sheet thickness influence. Correlations are now applicable to determine size of initial droplets. In this study the same investigation techniques have been applied on annular and planar configurations to find the eventual discrepancies.     

Planar dropsizing by elastic and fluorescence scattering in sprays too dense for phase Doppler measurement

An attempt was made to measure, non-intrusively, average droplet sizes in a dense cooling spray of water. The small droplet size and high number density presented severe problems to conventional nonintrusive measurement methodology with phase Doppler anemometry (PDA). A recently developed optical technique, with more promise for measurements in dense sprays, laser sheet dropsizing (LSD), was tried with more success. Sources of error were considered and the uncertainty of the drop sizes measured by LSD was estimated at ±7%, neglecting multiple scattering, dropsize distribution effects and the contributions of droplets at the edge of the laser beam. The greatest of the known contributions to uncertainty is the calibration of the technique against PDA. The greatest of the unknown contributions is likely to be multiple scattering in such dense sprays. Received: 1 March 2000 / Revised version: 25 May 2000 / Published online: 20 September 2000