Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Theoretical And Experimental Investigation Of The Cascading Nature Of Pressure-Swirl Atomization, Pretam Choudhury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pressure swirl atomizers are commonly used in IC, aero-engines, and liquid propellant rocket combustion. Understanding the atomization process is important in order to enhance vaporization, mitigate soot formation, design of combustion chambers, and improve overall combustion efficiency. This work utilizes non-invasive techniques such as ultra -speed imaging, and Phase Doppler Particle Anemometry (PDPA) in order to investigate the cascade atomization process of pressure-swirl atomizers by examining swirling liquid film dynamics and the localized droplet characteristics of the resulting hollow cone spray. Specifically, experiments were conducted to examine these effects for three different nozzles with orifice diameters .3mm, .5mm, and .97mm. …