Disintegration of planar liquid film impacted by two-dimensional gas jets

Abstract

The distortion and break-up of a thin planar liquid film impacted by two gas jets while discharging from a twin-fluid atomizer is studied numerically. The gas momentum vector has components normal and parallel to the liquid stream. Viscosity and compressibility are neglected in both the liquid phase and the gas phase. The reduced-dimension (lubrication) approximation is employed to describe the nonlinear distortion and breakup of the thin film. The gas-phase dynamics are modelled by using a boundary-element-method formulation. For the considered parameter range and for a given energy expenditure, direct modulation of liquid-phase velocities at the nozzle exit is found to be more effective in causing film rupture than indirect modulation via adjacent impacting gas jets. In the former case, dilational film modulation results in shorter breakup lengths than sinuous modulation. On the other hand, for gas-jet modulated films, sinuous mode forcing is more effective than dilational forcing for the same energy input. Co-flowing gas streams significantly alter wavelengths and amplitudes of film disturbances generated by direct film modulation. Large ratios of gas-jet momentum to liquid-film momentum result in “immediate” film rupture in response to the dynamics of the impacting gas jets, whereas for lower ratios films disintegration occurs further downstream after continuous growth of the initial disturbances. Film distortion is characterized by the formation of fluid blobs or long band-like films depending on Weber number values and density ratio.