Abstract
A photographic study has been made of the disintegration of thin circular liquid sheets in air streams flowing normal to the liquid sheet. The results may be summarised as follows: (1) Two principal mechanisms of disintegration have been observed: (a) Continuous atomisation proceeds through the formation of circum-ferential waves, and fragments of the sheet are subsequently torn off and atomised. (b) A vibratory system is set up between the two fluids, and the sheet breaks up by resonance between the fluids into periodic clusters of drops. (2) The occurrence of each mechanism is markedly affected by the operating conditions. The vibratory mechanism is pronounced at air/liquid momentum ratios above 18, particularly with values of air energy above 2000 ft.lbs/min. At all values of air energy wave disintegration occurs with air/liquid momentum ratios below 18. (3) A sheet undergoing wave disintegration produces smaller drops than a vibrating sheet. Since for given air flow conditions the momentum ratio can be reduced by increasing the liquid flow rate these phenomena demon-strate the surprising result that smaller drop sizes can be achieved by an increase in liquid flow rate; tha.t is to say, a decrease in air/liquid mass ratio. (4) At any level of air energy atomisation is improved when the air is distributed from a narrower annular gap, the air stream being utilised more efficiently. (5) When the sheet is atomised by a wide air stream close to the orifice, an increase of 50% in sheet thickness produces a coarser spray. When the sheet is atomised by a narrow air stream at a greater distance from the orifice, the effect of sheet thickness is less marked. (6) Spatial drop dispersion in the atmosphere is affected by the mechanism of disintegration. Wave disintegration results in a relatively well dispersed spray, whilst the vibratory mechanism produces a dense core of drops along the nozzle axis. (7) Imparting a rotary motion tothe atomising air stream improves the quality of atomisation and spatial dispersion, particularly with vibratory disintegration.
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