| An experimental study on the characterization of liquid jets injected into subsonic air crossflows is conducted. The aim of the study is to relate the droplet size and other attributes of the spray, such as breakup length, position, plume width, and time to flow parameters, including jet and air velocities, pressure and temperature as well as non-dimensional variables. Furthermore, multiple expressions are defined that would summarize the general behavior of the spray. For this purpose, an experimental setup is developed, which could withstand high temperatures and pressures to simulate conditions close to those experienced inside gas turbine engines. Images are captured using a laser based shadowgraphy system similar to a 2D PIV system. Image processing is extensively used to measure droplet size and boundaries of the spray. In total 209 different conditions are tested and over 72,000 images are captured and processed. The crossflow air temperatures are 25°C, 200°C, and 300°C; absolute crossflow air pressures are 2.1, 3.8, and 5.2 bars. Various liquid and gas velocities are tested for each given temperature and pressure in order to study the breakup mechanisms and regimes. Effects of dimensional and non-dimensional variables on droplet size are presented in detail. Several correlations for the mean droplet size, which are generated in this process, are presented. In addition, the influence of non-dimensional variables on the breakup length, time, plume area, angle, width and mean jet surface thickness are discussed and individual correlations are provided for each parameter. The influence of each individual parameter on the droplet sizes is discussed for a better understanding of the fragmentation process. Finally, new correlations for the centerline, windward and leeward trajectories are presented and compared to the previously reported correlations. |
