Flapping instability of a liquid jet

Abstract

We study the flapping instability observed when a liquid jet is incompletely atomized by a fast parallel gas stream: the remaining liquid jet is destabilized over a scale large compared with its radius, and breaks into liquid fragments. We characterize the symmetry of this instability and its frequency. The intact liquid length is measured as a function of gas and liquid velocity, and turns out to be longer than the one predicted by Raynal (1997) for a planar mixing layer. The frequency of the instability is measured with a spectral method, and is in agreement with the frequency observed for the planar shear instability, though slightly smaller. The planar, and not helical, symmetry of the instability makes it akin to a flapping instability, observed when a planar liquid sheet is atomized by two planar gas streams. We next measure drop sizes when the flapping instability is present, with a method based on image processing. Measured size distributions are in agreement with distributions observed in a mixing layer geometry for low gas velocities (long tail distribution). The mean drop diameter depends weakly on liquid velocity, and decreases as d10∼Ug0.9. On the contrary, Sauter diameter depends strongly on liquid velocity.