Diagnostics Development for Spray Characterization in Complex Turbulent Flows

Abstract

The present work reports a detailed investigation of air-liquid interaction in sprays along with particle number density and mass flux measurements in complex turbulent flows such as those present in gas turbines and rocket combustors. Data have been obtained for the characterization of sprays in complex flows which include detailed drop size and drop velocity distributions, size-velocity correlations, mass flux, and particle number density. Key factors affecting the measurement of the sample volume size are discussed in detail since an accurate estimation of it is essential to the particle number density and volume flux determined by the instrument. The discrimination of refraction and reflective scattering components and their influence on the measurements is also discussed. Data comparing the phase Doppler results to alternate methods of measuring number density and volume flux are also presented. These results showed agreement to within 15% in most cases for realistic flow configurations.

Atomization characteristics of a bluff body-assisted sonic twin-fluid atomizer

“…In contrast, the larger drops follow the direction of the spray cone angle. Bachalo et al 24 compared the spray behaviour in a simple and complex real gas turbine environment (with a bluff body), focusing on spray characteristics. The low-velocity fields (recirculation zone (RZ)) and high freestream external velocity fields give complex spray size distribution spatially within the spray with major differences between both cases.…”