A study on the fuel injection and atomization characteristics of soybean oil methyl ester (SME)

The spray atomization characteristics of an undiluted biodiesel fuel (soybean oil methyl ester, SME) in a diesel engine were investigated and compared with that of diesel fuel (ultra low sulfur diesel, ULSD). The experimental results were compared with numerical results predicted by the KIVA-3V code. The spray characteristics of the spray tip penetration, spray area, spray centroid and injection delay were analyzed using images obtained from a visualization system. The Sauter mean diameter (SMD) was analyzed using a droplet analyzer system to investigate the atomization characteristics.It was found that the peak injection rate increases and advances when the injection pressure increases due to the increase of the initial injection momentum. The injection rate of the SME, which has a higher density than diesel fuel, is higher than that of diesel fuel despite its low injection velocity. The high ambient pressure induces the shortening of spray tip penetration of the SME. Moreover, the predicted spray tip penetration pattern is similar to the pattern observed experimentally. The SMD of the SME decreases along the axial distance. The predicted local and overall SMD distribution patterns of diesel and SME fuels illustrate similar tendencies when compared with the experimental droplet size distribution patterns.     

Effects of the gas phase molecular weight and bubble size on effervescent atomization

The effervescent atomization from an industrial Coker feed nozzle is compared for two different gas densities (air and mixed gas of 81.4 vol.% helium/18.6 vol.% nitrogen) at equivalent operating temperatures. The application is to observe the similarity of lab tests using air at 20 °C to the industrial process using steam at 300-400 °C. The effects of operating conditions, such as gas to liquid mass ratio, mixing pressure and void fraction on the flow regime, bubble size, and droplet size distribution were also examined in this study. The experiments were performed using mixtures of water with air or mixed gas, which resulted in gas to liquid mass ratios ranging from 1% to 4%.Stroboscopic back scattered imagery (SBSI) indicates that the average bubble size inside the nozzle conduit is similar when air and water are used as the process fluids, when compared to the case when mixed gas and water are used as the process fluids. Under similar conditions, the Phase Doppler Particle Anemometer (PDPA) data indicate that the droplet size in the spray is similar when using either mixed gas or air as the atomization gas.Experimental results obtained by high-speed video shadowgraphy (HSVS) indicate that the flow pattern inside the nozzle feeding conduit was slug flow with a tendency to attain annular flow with increased air to liquid mass ratios. Thus, from the experimental results it is evident that the smaller molecular weight of the mixed gas versus air (8.4 versus 29) does not significantly reduce the bubble (<±10% difference) and droplet size (<±1.5% difference), indicating a weak dependence of the gas phase density on two-phase atomization. This confirms that laboratory experiments on effervescent nozzles using air have reliable similarity to systems that use high temperature steam for the gas phase.     

Droplet size and velocity characteristics of water-air impinging jet atomizer

A water-air impinging jets atomizer is investigated in this study, which consists of flow visualization using high speed photography and mean droplet size and velocity distribution measurements of the spray using Phase Doppler Anemometry (PDA). Topological structures and break up details of the generated spray in the far and near fields are presented with and without air jet and for an impinging angle of 90°. Spray angle increases with the water jet velocity, air flow rate and impinging angle. PDA results indicate that droplet size is smallest in the spray center, with minimum value of Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of 50 µm at the air flow rate of Q_m = 13.50 g/min. SMD of droplets increases towards the spray outer region gradually to about 120 µm. The mean droplet velocity component W along the air-jet axis is highest in the spray center and decreases gradually with increasing distance from the spray center. SMD normalized by the air nozzle diameter is found firstly to decrease with gas-to-liquid mass ratio (GLR) and air-to-liquid momentum ratio (ALMR) and then remain almost constant. Its increasing with aerodynamic Weber number indicates an exponential variation. The study sheds light on the performance of water-air impinging jets atomizers providing useful information for future CFD simulation works.     

Droplet dynamics and size characterization of high-velocity airblast atomization

Airblast atomizers are especially useful and commonplace in liquid fuel combustion applications. However, the spray formation processes, the droplet dynamics and the final drop size distributions are still not sufficiently understood due to the coupled gas-liquid interactions and turbulence generation. Therefore, empirical and semi-empirical approaches are typically used to estimate the global spray parameters. To develop a physical understanding of the spray evolution, a plain-jet airblast atomizer was investigated in an atmospheric spray rig using the phase-Doppler technique. The simultaneous drop size and axial and radial velocity components were measured on radial traverses across the spray at various axial distances from the nozzle for a range of atomizing pressures. The droplet turbulent and mean kinetic energies were found to be proportional to the atomizing pressure. Hence, the scatter of the radial motion of the droplets increased with the atomizing pressure. A droplet stability analysis was performed to locate the regions characterized by ongoing secondary atomization. The volume-to-surface diameter, D₃₂, of the fully developed spray was compared with estimates provided by five published formulae. The role of liquid viscosity, hence the Ohnesorge number, was found to be negligible in the investigated regime. Three commonly used size distribution functions were fitted to the measured data to analyze their dependence on the atomizing pressure. The Gamma distribution function was found to give the best approximation to the atomization process.     

Measurements of droplet size in shear-driven atomization using ultra-small angle x-ray scattering

Measurements of droplet size in optically-thick, non-evaporating, shear-driven sprays have been made using ultra-small angle x-ray scattering (USAXS). The sprays are produced by orifice-type nozzles coupled to diesel injectors, with measurements conducted from 1 – 24 mm from the orifice, spanning from the optically-dense near-nozzle region to more dilute regions where optical diagnostics are feasible. The influence of nozzle diameter, liquid injection pressure, and ambient density were examined. The USAXS measurements reveal few if any nanoscale droplets, in conflict with a popular computational model of diesel spray breakup. The average droplet diameter rapidly decreases with downstream distance from the nozzle until a plateau value is reached, after which only small changes are seen in droplet diameter. This plateau droplet size is consistent with the droplets being small enough to be stable with respect to further breakup. Liquid injection pressure and nozzle diameter have the biggest impact on droplet size, while ambient density has a smaller effect.     

A random simulation of droplet distribution in nozzle and plume flows

A simple entrainment model is used to estimate droplet streamlines, velocity and mass flux in rocket exhaust plumes. Since droplet mass flux constitutes only about 1% of the exhaust mass flux, the effect of droplet entrainment on the gas flow is neglected. The novelty of the present model is in obtaining the droplet distribution within the nozzle by assuming a small radial random velocity component for droplets at the throat. Gas flow in the nozzle is approximated as isentropic plus a correction for the boundary layer. The computed distribution of droplet mass flux is found to be in good agreement with experimental data. Received 15 January 1996 / Accepted 11 September 1996     

Droplet formation from a pulsed vibrating micro-nozzle

Micro-droplet formation from a passive vibrating micro-nozzle driven by a pulsed pressure wave is numerically simulated. The micro-nozzle is formed from an orifice in a thin walled plate that is allowed to freely vibrate due to the pressure loading on the plate. The analysis couples the fluid flow from the nozzle and the resultant droplet formation with the nozzle vibration calculated using large deflection theory. The problem is made nondimensional based on the capillary parameters of time, velocity and pressure. The applied pressure and nozzle material properties are varied to alter the vibration characteristics of the orifice plate used to form the nozzle. The initiation of drop formation is found to coincide with a threshold impulse input, defined as the product of the pressure magnitude and the pulse duration. Increasing the impulse can result in multiple satellite droplet formation, but the effect on the primary droplet size is minor. The vibration of the nozzle only weakly influences the droplet break-off time, but is shown to significantly affect the droplet volume, shape, and satellite droplet formation.     

Evaluation of effervescent atomizer internal design on the spray unsteadiness using a phase/Doppler particle analyzer

The purpose of this research was to investigate the dependence of effervescent spray unsteadiness on operational conditions and atomizer internal design by the ideal spray theory of Edwards and Marx. The convergent–divergent effervescent atomizer spraying water with air as atomizing medium in the “outside-in” gas injection was used in this study. Results demonstrated that droplet formation process at various air to liquid ratio (ALR) led to the spray unsteadiness and all droplet size classes exhibited unsteadiness behavior in spray. The spray unsteadiness reduced quickly at ALR of 3% and decreased moderately at ALR of other values as the axial distance increased. When the axial distance was 200 mm, the spray unsteadiness reduced dramatically with the increase in radial distance, but lower spray unsteadiness at the center of spray and higher spray unsteadiness at the edge of spray were shown as the axial distance increased. The spray unsteadiness at the center region of spray increased with the injection pressure. Low spray unsteadiness and good atomization performance can be obtained when the diameter of incline aeration holes increased at ALR of 10%. Although short mixing chamber with large discharge orifice diameter for convergent–divergent effervescent atomizer produced good atomization, the center region of spay showed high spray unsteadiness and maybe formed the droplet clustering.     

Flow characteristics of a large-size pressure-atomized spray using DTV

The purpose of this study is to characterize the atomization of a jet of water sprayed into the air at high velocity through a commercial nozzle widely used for sprinkler irrigation. The typical diameter of the droplets present in the spray is in the range of several tens of micrometers to several millimeters. They are visualized by ombroscopy. A specific Droplet Tracking Velocimetry (DTV) technique is developed to estimate the size and velocity of these highly polydispersed droplets that are distinctly non spherical. This analysis is performed from the rupture of the liquid core region (about a distance of 550 nozzle diameters) to the dispersed zone (about a distance of 900 nozzle diameters). With this technique, we obtain joint size-velocity measurements that are rarely produced. Especially two velocity components and also a large diameter range are characterized at the same time; while with other techniques, such as Particle Doppler Anemometry (PDA), the diameter range is quite reduced and requires specific settings. Additional measurements of the liquid volume fraction are performed using a single mode fiber-optic probe. In the light of our experimental data, it appears that the turbulent droplet motion in the spray is strongly anisotropic. This anisotropy is quite unexpected because other studies on sprays (generally concerned with engine applications) show a relatively low anisotropy. We attribute this increase of anisotropy to the fact that, for this type of spray, the droplet relaxation time is long in comparison to the characteristic time of the turbulence and that biggest droplets are still submitted to atomization process. This strong anisotropy is responsible for the poor radial dispersion of the spray.     

在轴向气流作用下液体轴对称抛撒二次破碎的实验研究

液体轴对称抛撒的实验研究是以云雾爆轰武器的研制为背景的。为了研究轴向气流作用下液体轴对称抛撒二次破碎所形成的雾化场特性,本文利用两台激波管并对之加以改造,成功地在实验室实现了轴向气流作用下液体的轴对称抛撒。为了研究其雾化场的远场特性,本文利用激光粒子测量仪获得了在不同实验工况和不同位置下的雾化场SMD分布曲线。实验数据表明,由于轴向气流速度的增加,液体破碎的Weber数得到了提高,导致二次破碎初期雾化场的SMD随之减小;随着抛撒驱动压力的提高,二次破碎初期雾化场的SMD也随之减小;在同一工况下,雾化场SMD随着测量位置与喷口距离的增加而变大。     

阶梯型加速段对旋流喷嘴雾化特性的影响

旋流内芯是压力旋流式喷嘴最主要的旋流发生构件, 其几何特征直接影响压力旋流式喷嘴的喷雾特性.目前采用平滑型加速段的旋流内芯导流效率较低.为减小高流量条件下的能量损失, 使喷嘴旋流内芯加速段对喷雾介质产生预旋效应, 增强旋流强度, 本文设计喷嘴旋流内芯加速段为阶梯型, 其下段阶梯相对上段阶梯旋转15°, 旋向与喷嘴旋流槽方向相同.利用粒子动态分析仪(particle dynamics analysis system, PDA) 和高速摄影(charge coupled device, CCD)系统实验研究了加速段结构改进前后喷嘴的喷雾流量、雾场索特尔平均直径(Sauter mean diameter, SMD)、雾滴速度以及喷雾锥角, 并分析了SMD、 雾滴速度的轴向和径向分布特性. 结果表明, 背压差0.08\mathrm{~} 0.46 MPa 范围内, 阶梯型加速段对喷雾介质具有较好的预旋效果.喷嘴的流量提高了48.0% ~ 51.8%; 喷雾的轴向速度提升了31.4% ~ 32.8%, 径向速度提升了1.6% ~ 16.8%; 喷雾锥角减小了4.21°~6.57°; 较高背压差下喷雾下游的SMD减小了9.8%.与平滑型加速段相比, 阶梯型加速段的设计有效地提高了喷嘴的雾化质量.      

The atomization of water–oil emulsions

The paper presents the results of experimental studies on atomization of the emulsions flowing through twin-fluid atomizers obtained by the use of the digital microphotography method. The main elements of the test installation were: nozzle, reservoir, pump and measurement units of liquid flow. The photographs were taken by a digital camera with automatic flash at exposure time of 1/8000 s and subsequently analyzed using Image Pro-Plus. The oils used were mineral oils 20–90, 20–70, 20–50 and 20–30. The studies were performed at flow rates of liquid phase changed from 0.0014 to 0.011 (dm³/s) and gas phase changed from 0.28 to 1.4 (dm³/s), respectively. The analysis of photos shows that the droplets being formed during the liquid atomization have very different sizes. The smallest droplets have diameters of the order of 10 μm. The experimental results showed that the changes in physical properties of a liquid phase lead to the significant changes in the spray characteristics. The analysis of the photos of water and emulsions atomization process showed that the droplet sizes are dependent on gas and liquid flow rates, construction of nozzle and properties of liquid. The differences between characteristics of atomization for water and emulsions have been observed. Analysis of photos on forming the droplets in air–water and air-emulsions systems showed that droplets are bigger in air-emulsion system (at the same value of gas to liquid mass ratio). The values of Sauter mean diameter (SMD) increased with increase of volume fraction of oil in emulsion. The droplet size increased with emulsion viscosity.     

Dynamic behaviors of droplet impact and spreading: A universal relationship study of dimensionless wetting diameter and droplet height

A notable universal relationship has been proposed in the literature for the evolution of dimensionless droplet height and wetting diameter during the initial spreading stage of droplet impingement. In this study, this universal relationship was investigated by employing three sets of measurements. Sequential images were recorded, and the whole droplet profile ensembles were plotted to facilitate this study. These sets of experiments were designed by changing impact velocity, surface hydrophobicity, or solution property. The experimental results illustrate that the importance of parameters causing the data variation is in the order of surface hydrophobicity > initial impact velocity > surfactant on wetting diameter, and surface hydrophobicity ≈ initial impact velocity > surfactant on droplet height. No universal relationship was observed for dimensionless droplet height and wetting diameter.     

Experimental analysis of the flow characteristics of a pressure-atomised spray

An experimental setup has been created to allow measurements of the properties of the gas phase, the liquid phase and the mixture in a pressure-atomised spray of water, in terms of both mean quantities and Reynolds stresses. This setup involves laser Doppler velocimetry for determining the velocity of either the gas or liquid phase, according to the parameters used, such as seeding or no-seeding of the ambient air, laser source power, or photo-multiplier gains, droplet tracking velocimetry for determining the velocity and characteristic size of the droplets, and a single optical probe for determining the mean volume fraction of the liquid, from which the liquid mean mass fraction and the mean density of the mixture are inferred. The experimental conditions, in particular in terms of liquid and gas Weber numbers, were chosen in a range for which the liquid phase turbulent kinetic energy should be mainly responsible for the liquid-jet primary break-up, these flow conditions lying within the second wind-induced atomization regime. Results reported herein are more specifically focused on the region ranging from 400 nozzle diameters to 800 nozzle diameters, where the liquid core is disrupted. They provide new information about the formation and properties of such pressure-atomised sprays, in particular in terms of the role played by the Reynolds stresses resulting from the slip velocity between the liquid and the gas. The mean slip velocity is directly related to the turbulent flux of liquid. Such information will be used in the future to develop new turbulence models since very limited experimental information is so far available for these terms.     

The spray characteristics of a pressure-swirl injector with various exit plane tilts

The gasoline spray characteristics of a pressure-swirl injector were investigated with various exit plane tilts. The analysis focused on the correlation between tilt angle and flow angle. Mie-scattering technique and phase Doppler anemometry were employed to analyze the macroscopic spray development and droplet size distribution of the spray. An analytical method for mass flux estimation was applied to understand the velocity distribution at the nozzle exit. The results showed that the spray shape and velocity distribution of the spray were more asymmetrical at high tilt angles. In particular, an opened hollow cone spray was formed when the tilt angle is greater than the complementary flow angle. The pressure drop inside the spray, one of the crucial factors for the swirl spray collapse at various surrounding conditions, was attenuated in this opened hollow cone spray since the pressure inside the spray was assimilated to the surrounding air pressure. The spray collapse at high fuel temperature and back pressure conditions did not appear when the tilt angle is larger than the complementary flow angle due to the reduced pressure drop inside the spray. However, tilt angle should be optimized to fulfill the requirements of spray robustness and avoid the locally rich area. The droplet size of 70° tilted nozzle spray shows a value similar to that of the original swirl spray in the plane that includes nozzle axis and the major axis of exit surface ellipse (Major axis plane) while it shows an increased value in the plane that includes nozzle axis and the minor axis of exit surface ellipse (Minor axis plane).     

Producing droplets smaller than the nozzle diameter by using a pneumatic drop-on-demand droplet generator

A pneumatic droplet generator to produce water/glycerin droplets smaller than the nozzle diameter is described. The generator consists of a T-junction with a nozzle fit into one opening, the second opening connected to a gas cylinder through a solenoid valve and the third connected to a length of steel tubing. The droplet generator is filled with liquid. Opening the valve for a preset time creates a pulse of alternating negative and positive pressure in the gas above the surface of the liquid, ejecting a single droplet through the nozzle. Droplet formation was photographed and the pressure variation in the droplet generator recorded. The effect of various experimental parameters, such as nozzle size, pressure pulse width and liquid properties on droplet formation was investigated. Small droplets could not be generated when liquid viscosity was too low or too high. For pure water, droplet diameters were several times that of the nozzle. Using more viscous glycerin mixtures, droplets with diameters as small as 65% of the nozzle diameter could be produced.     

Simulation of liquid jet primary breakup: Dynamics of ligament and droplet formation

Primary atomization of liquid injected at high speed into still air is investigated to elucidate physical processes by direct numerical simulation. With sufficient grid resolution, ligament and droplet formation can be captured in a physically sound way. Ligament formation is triggered by the liquid jet tip roll-up, and later ligaments are also produced from the disturbed liquid core surface in the upstream. Ligament production direction is affected by gas vortices. Disturbances are fed from the liquid jet tip toward upstream through vortices and droplet re-collision. When the local gas Weber number is O(1), ligaments are created, thus the ligament or droplet scale becomes smaller as the bulk Weber number increases. Observation of droplet formation from a ligament provides insights into the relevance between the actual droplet formation and pinch-off from a slow liquid jet in laboratory experiments. In the spray, the dominant mode is the short-wave mode driven by propagative capillary wave from the ligament tip. An injection nozzle that is necessary for a slow jet is absent for a ligament, thus the long-wave (Rayleigh) mode is basically not seen without the effect of stretch. By the present simulation, a series of physical processes have been revealed. The present result will be extended to LES modeling in the future.     

An Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup

In this paper we present a numerical model for the coarse-grid simulation of turbulent liquid jet breakup using an Eulerian–Lagrangian coupling. To picture the unresolved droplet formation near the liquid jet interface in the case of coarse grids we considered a theoretical model to describe the unresolved flow instabilities leading to turbulent breakup. These entrained droplets are then represented by an Eulerian–Lagrangian hybrid concept. On the one hand, we used a volume of fluid method (VOF) to characterize the global spreading and the initiation of droplet formation; one the other hand, Lagrangian droplets are released at the liquid–gas interface according to the theoretical model balancing consolidating and disruptive energies. Here, a numerical coupling was required between Eulerian liquid core and Lagrangian droplets using mass and momentum source terms. The presented methodology was tested for different liquid jets in Rayleigh, wind-induced and atomization regimes and validated against literature data. This comparison reveals fairly good qualitative agreement in the cases of jet spreading, jet instability and jet breakup as well as relatively accurate size distribution and Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the droplets. Furthermore, the model was able to capture the regime transitions from Rayleigh instability to atomization appropriately. Finally, the presented sub-grid model predicts the effect of the gas-phase pressure on the droplet sizes very well.     

Modeling droplet collision and coalescence in an icing wind tunnel and the influence of these processes on droplet size distribution

A theoretical model of a two-phase air/dispersed water spray flow in an icing wind tunnel is presented here. The mutual interactions taking place within the dispersed phase known as binary droplet collisions, as well as gravitational sedimentation are considered. Where large droplets and low air stream velocities are concerned, the effect of gravity on droplet dynamics is considerable. Gravity causes the vertical deflection of droplet trajectories and an increase in liquid water content (LWC) in the bottom half of the wind tunnel. Droplet collision tends to influence the size, trajectory and velocity of droplets thus affecting the characteristics of the flow and, thereby, the formation of ice on the object placed in the wind tunnel. The present model simulates droplet motion and droplet collision in an icing wind tunnel, where it may be observed that bouncing, stable coalescence, or coalescence followed by separation are the possible outcomes of collision. In the theoretical examination, firstly, the effect of gravity on the vertical deflection of droplet trajectories and on the vertical distribution of the LWC near the icing object are taken into account, while droplet collision is disregarded. Then both factors are considered and collision outcome is determined together with the size and velocity of post-collision droplets. The initial droplet size distribution (DSD), as it occurs at the nozzle outlet, is estimated by a curve in accordance with previous experimental results. The DSD is determined theoretically near the icing object, which makes it possible to calculate the median volume diameter and the LWC of the aerosol cloud. The simulation results with regard to the LWC are compared to the experimental results obtained in this research and a satisfactory qualitative coincidence is to be found between them.