Similarity between the primary and secondary air-assisted liquid jet breakup mechanism

TL;DR

This study uses ultrafast synchrotron x-ray imaging to compare primary and secondary breakup mechanisms in air-assisted water jets, revealing significant similarities and a membrane-mediated process dominating across various air speeds.

Contribution

It uncovers the intrinsic connection between primary and secondary breakup regimes and suggests a unified theoretical approach for high-speed liquid jet breakup.

Findings

Membrane-mediated breakup dominates across a wide range of air speeds.

Primary and secondary breakups show significant phenomenological similarities.

Supports a unified theory for high-speed liquid jet breakup.

Abstract

we report an ultrafast synchrotron x-ray phase contrast imaging study of the primary breakup mechanism of a coaxial air-assisted water jet. We demonstrate that there exist great similarities in the phenomenology of primary breakup with that of the secondary breakup. Especially, a membrane-mediated breakup mechanism dominates the breakup process for a wide range of air speeds. This finding reveals the intrinsic connections of these two breakup regimes and has deep implications on the unified theoretical approach in treating the breakup mechanism of high speed liquid jet.