Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental Studies on Fuel Spray Characteristics of Pressure-Swirl Atomizer and Air-Blast Atomizer

  • Published:
Journal of Thermal Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this work, the effects of fuel temperatures and pressure drops on the flow field and spray characteristics of a pressure-swirl atomizer were discussed using the Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV), Planar Laser Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) and Laser Particle Size Analyzer (LPSA) methods. Then the air-blast atomizer was selected to study the interaction of initial atomization and flow field. The effect of fuel-air ratio on the air-blast atomizer were also considered, where the fuel-air ratio was varied by adjusting mass flow rate of the air and fuel respectively. The results show that the spray angle of the pressure-swirl atomizer increases first and changes a little after the pressure drop higher than 0.5 MPa. However, more fuel concentrate on the central region, which is mainly caused by the increase of the proportion of small droplets with lower centrifugal force. The fuel temperature can improve the spray angle only in lower pressure drop, and it has a little effect under higher pressure drops. In addition, the fuel pressure drop has an obvious influence on the fuel distribution and flow field near the nozzle exit compared with the downstream. For the air-blast atomizer, the spray angle increases compared with the pressure-swirl atomizer for the introduction of swirl air. Furthermore, the spray angle decreases with the air mass rate increasing, and it increases with the fuel mass rate increasing. The distribution of velocity and droplet near the nozzle exit is influenced by the air mass rate, and the fuel mass rate mainly affects the distribution in the downstream. The fuel accumulates in the annular area below the nozzle, and the distribution of it changes little with the development along the axial direction.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

A :

area of the nozzle exit/m2

CCD:

Charge-Couple Device

C d :

discharge coefficient

D :

diameter of cross-sectional plane/m

H :

distance from exit of atomizer/m

m :

mass flow rate/g·s−1

LPSA:

Laser Particle Size Analyzer

ΔP :

pressure drop/MPa

PDPA:

Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer

PIV:

Particle Imaging Velocimetry

PLIF:

Planar Laser Induced fluorescence

SMD:

Sauter mean diameter/µm

T :

temperature/°C

β :

spray cone angle/°

ρ :

density of fuel/kg·m−3

a:

air

f:

fuel

References

  1. Gan X.H., Aero gas turbine engine fuel nozzle technology. Vol. 4. National Defense Industry Press, Beijing, China, 2006, pp. 36–50.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Lefebvre A.H., Wang X.F., Mean drop sizes from pressure-swirl nozzles. Journal of Propulsion & Power, 1987, 3(1): 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Marchione T., Allouis C., Amoresano A., et al., Experimental investigation of a pressure swirl atomizer spray. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 2007, 23(5): 1096–1101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Amini G., Liquid flow in a simplex swirl nozzle. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 2015, 79: 225–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kim S., Khil T., Kim D., et al., Effect of geometric parameters on the liquid film thickness and air core formation in a swirl injector. Measurement Science and Technology, 2009, 20(1): 015403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Xue J., Jog M.A., Jeng S.M., et al., Effect of geometric parameters on simplex atomizer performance. AIAA Journal, 2004, 42(12): 2408–2415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Rashid M.S.F.M., Hamid A.H.A., Sheng O.C., et al., Effect of inlet slot number on the spray cone angle and discharge coefficient of swirl atomizer. Procedia Engineering, 2012, 41: 1781–1786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lefebvre A.H., Wang X.F., Mean drop sizes from pressure-swirl nozzles. Journal of Propulsion & Power, 1987, 3(1): 11–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Rizk N.K., Lefebvre. A.H., Internal flow characteristics of simplex swirl atomizers. Journal of Propulsion and Power, 1985, 1(3): 193–199.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yang L., Ge M., Zhang X., et al., Effects of spout length on spray characteristic of swirl injector. Journal of Propulsion Technology, 2005, 26(3): 209–214.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Yang L.J., Fu Q.F., Qu Y.Y., et al., Spray characteristics of gelled propellants in swirl injectors. Fuel, 2012, 97: 253–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chen J., Ji H., Zhang B., Experimental investigation of spray characteristics of a double line pressure-swirl atomizer. Journal of Aerospace Power, 2010, 25(4): 774–779.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Zhang T., Dong B., Chen X., et al. Spray characteristics of pressure-swirl nozzles at different nozzle diameters. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2017, 121: 984–991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chen C., Yang Y., Yang S.H., et al., The spray characteristics of an open-end swirl injector at ambient pressure. Aerospace Science and Technology, 2017, 67: 78–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Liu K., Research of the atomization characteristics of low pollution air blast nozzle. Advanced Materials Research, 2013, 655–657: 133–136.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Roudini M., Wozniak G., Experimental investigation of spray characteristics of pre-filming air-blast atomizers. Journal of Applied Fluid Mechanics, 2018, 11(6): 1455–1469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Dvorak D., Peck S., Hu H., An experimental investigation on the spray flows exhausted from a counter-swirling air-blast nozzle. Aerodynamic Measurement Technology, Ground Testing, & Flight Testing Conference. 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2012-3114.

  18. Ma R., Dong B., Yu Z., et al., An experimental study on the spray characteristics of the air-blast atomizer. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2015, 88: 149–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Guo X.H., Lin Y.Z., Zhang C., et al., Experiment investigation on atomization characteristic of an air-blast atomizer with centrifugal nozzle and co-dual-swirl cup. Journal of Aerospace Power, 2009, 24(10): 2249–2254.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Liu C.X., Liu F.Q., Yang J.H., et al., Experimental investigations of spray generated by a pressure swirl atomizer. Journal of the Energy Institute, 2019, 92(2): 210–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Akamatsu F., Optical measurement and numerical simulation of spray combustion. Journal of Thermal Science and Technology, 2016, 11(1): JTST0002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Liu F.Q., Zhang K.Y., Mu Y., et al., Experimental investigation on ignition and lean blow-out performance of a multi-sector centrally staged combustor. Journal of Thermal Science, 2014, 23(5): 480–485.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Lee E.J., Oh S.Y., Kim H.Y., et al., Measuring air core characteristics of a pressure-swirl atomizer via a transparent acrylic nozzle at various Reynolds numbers. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science, 2010, 34(8): 1475–1483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Fan X.J., Liu C.X., Mu Y., et al., Experimental investigations of flow field and atomization field characteristics of pre-filming air-blast Atomizers. Energies, 2019, 12(14): 2800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Liu C.X., Liu F.Q., Yang J.H., et al., Investigations of the effects of spray characteristics on the flame pattern and combustion stability of a swirl-cup combustor. Fuel, 2015, 139: 529–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Liu C.X., Liu F.Q., Yang J.H., et al., Experimental investigation of spray and combustion performances of a fuel-staged low emission combustor Part I: Effects of main swirl angle. Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power, 2017, 139(12): 121502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by National Science and Technology Major Project (Project No. 2017-III-0007-0032 and No. 2017-III-0002-0026) and Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Science (No. 2019147).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Light-duty Gas-turbine, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Kaixing Wang, Xiongjie Fan, Fuqiang Liu, Cunxi Liu, Haitao Lu & Gang Xu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Kaixing Wang, Xiongjie Fan, Fuqiang Liu, Cunxi Liu, Haitao Lu & Gang Xu

Authors
  1. Kaixing Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiongjie Fan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Fuqiang Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Cunxi Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Haitao Lu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Fuqiang Liu or Gang Xu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, K., Fan, X., Liu, F. et al. Experimental Studies on Fuel Spray Characteristics of Pressure-Swirl Atomizer and Air-Blast Atomizer. J. Therm. Sci. 30, 729–741 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1320-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1320-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation