An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Surface Tension and Viscosity on the Atomization Effect of a Solid Cone Nozzle

To investigate the influence of surface tension and viscosity on the atomization performance of solid cone nozzles and improve their dust reduction efficiency in industrial and mining enterprises, this study employed a self-built PDPA dust-fog coupling experimental system to explore the effects of different surface tension and viscosity solutions on atomization performance from three aspects: axial, radial, and fog field distribution. The experimental results indicate that compared with surface tension, surface tension has a greater influence on droplet size and velocity in the axial direction. In the radial direction, increasing surface tension and reducing viscosity within a certain range can make the droplet size and velocity distribution more uniform. Additionally, surface tension and viscosity significantly affect the fog field distribution. It was found that a decrease in surface tension can result in a closer proximity of the droplet velocity and size expansion area to the nozzle, while an increase in viscosity can lead to a more prolonged stable area. Furthermore, optimizing the surface tension and viscosity can significantly enhance the efficacy of dust reduction for respirable dust. Consequently, the application of the aforementioned atomization principles to regulate the fog field characteristics of solid cone nozzles can effectively mitigate dust in the production process and augment the dust reduction rate of industrial and mining enterprises.