Spatial evolution of droplet size and velocity characteristics in a swirl spray

Spray drop size distribution generated by atomization of fuel influences several facets of a combustion process such as, fuel-air mixing, reaction kinetics and thrust generation. In a typical spray, the drop size distribution evolves spatially, varying significantly between the near and far regions of the spray. However, studies so far have focused exclusively on either one of these regions and are unclear on the exact axial location where transition from near to far region droplet size characteristics is expected. In this work, we address this crucial gap by considering a swirl atomizer assembly and measuring the droplet characteristics for different liquid flow conditions of the ensuing spray at various radial and axial locations. Our results reveal an undiscovered axial variation in the scaled radial droplet velocity profiles, not followed by the radial drop size profiles, from which we unambiguously demarcate the near region as the zone which extends up to axial distances of 2.0 to 2.5 times film breakup length. Beyond this distance, the drop size characteristics are influenced by external factors such as airflow and identified as the far region of the spray. Using our analysis we locate the point of origin of the commonly reported droplet high-velocity stream along the spray centerline to the end of film breakup or near region of the spray. We also find that the global probability density functions for droplet size and velocity which show a marked difference in the near and far regions; being bimodal in the near-region and unimodal in the far-region being well represented by the double Gaussian and the Gamma distributions, respectively. We further quantify our results by meticulous measurements of number and volume flux distributions, global mean drop sizes, drop size (Dd) axial velocity (Ua) correlations, axial velocity based on drop size classification and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) which reveal the effect of drop inertia and air flow in determining the statistics in both the near and far regions. We anticipate the findings of this work will guide future investigations on combustion processes and combustor design based on spray characteristics.