Modeling study on drop breakup time in turbulent dispersions

Abstract

Drop breakup time describes the time scale of the drop breakup process. In this work, a mathematical model for drop breakup time is constructed by the dimensional analysis method. The adjustable parameters in the model are determined and further validated by comparing with the experimental data in the literature. Results show that the model accurately predicts the drop breakup time when Weber number (WeL) is low. Further, we analyzed the effect of drop diameter, WeL, interfacial tension, and drop viscosity on the breakup time. It is noted that the breakup time increases with the increase of drop diameter and viscosity, while decreases with the increase of WeL and interfacial tension. The internal flow mechanism was proposed to illustrate the influence of the interfacial tension on the breakup time. The breakup time model can be further used in the construction of breakup kernels in a population balance model.