Drop size characteristics of sprays emanating from circular and non-circular orifices in the atomization regime

TL;DR

This study experimentally compares spray morphology and drop size characteristics of kerosene jets from circular and non-circular orifices, revealing unexpected coarsening in non-circular jets due to filament and core breakup.

Contribution

It provides new insights into how non-circular orifices affect atomization, showing increased droplet sizes and distinct breakup mechanisms compared to circular orifices.

Findings

Non-circular orifices produce larger droplets than circular ones.

Filament and core breakup mechanisms differ between orifice shapes.

Bimodal to unimodal transition in drop size distribution with increasing Weber number.

Abstract

Traditionally, circular orifices have been used for generating aerosols, however in recent times non-circular orifices are being considered due to their superior atomization and mixing features. In this work, we experimentally investigate spray morphology and drop size characteristics of kerosene (Jet A-1) jets issuing from three non-circular orifices geometries (elliptic, triangular and, square) and one circular orifice with the same exit cross sectional area. Our results show an unexpected and yet unreported coarsening of atomization for non-circular orifice jets quantified by an increase in the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) at all tested exit velocities represented by the liquid Weber number, $We_l$. We attribute this to two distinct spray morphologies: filament and core breakup which generate large size liquid structures identified as filaments and ligaments, noticeable in non-circular orifices jets compared to circular orifice jets. On exploring this further by undertaking an examination of the drop size volume probability distribution at lower $We_l$ corresponding to the location marking the end of primary breakup we see a bimodality due to a dominant distribution of fragments of small and larger sizes owing to the spray morphology. At higher $We_l$ and larger distances from the injector exit we observe the bimodality converts to a unimodal distribution for all orifice jets with a single peak situated at lower drop diameters. Filament breakup is reasoned to be the cause of higher number of smaller drop sizes in triangular sprays among all non-circular orifice jets while thinner filaments in circular orifice sprays lead to smaller drop sizes compared to their triangular counterparts showing the same breakup morphology. We expect our results to help applications as diverse as engine fuel combustion, pharmaceutical sprays and CO$_2$ capture by NaOH sprays.