Use of Faraday instabilities to enhance fuel pulverisation in air-blast atomisers

The atomization of liquids into a spray is an important process in many industrial applications and particularly in the aero-engine sector. Conventional air-blast injectors in aircraft engines today use aerodynamic shearing effects to atomize the liquid fuel. However, at operating conditions where the air velocity is below 30 m/s (such as ground start and high altitude restart) the atomization quality is poor. Consequently combustion is less efficient with high pollutant emissions. The objective of this study is to validate a new concept of injector which couples the shearing effects with the principle of ultrasonic atomization. The latter consists of using piezoelectric actuators to generate the oscillations of a wall in contact with the liquid film. This excitation perpendicular to the liquid film surface creates Faraday instabilities at the liquid/air interface. Amplitudes higher than a defined threshold value induce the break-up of ligaments and the formation of droplets. To cite this article: M. Boukra et al., C. R. Mecanique 337 (2009).