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Thesis (M.S. in M.E.)--School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004. Directed by Minami Yoda. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-92).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. / Minami Yoda, Committee Co-Chair ; Said I. Abdel-Khalik, Committee Co-Chair ; S. Mostafa Ghiaasiaan, Committee Member ; Cyrus K. Aidun, Committee Member ; Donald R. Webster, Committee Member ; Ralph W. Moir, Committee Member. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis aims at studying the breakup of swirling liquid sheets discharging from the outer orifice of gas centered swirl coaxial atomizers. Such atomizers are considered as propellant injection systems for semi-cryogenic liquid rocket engines. A gas centered swirl coaxial type atomizer discharges an annular swirling liquid sheet which is atomized by a gaseous jet issuing from the central orifice of the atomizer. The primary objectives of this work were to understand the fluid dynamic interaction process between the outer liquid sheet and the central gas jet and its role on the breakup process of the liquid sheet. Cold flow experiments were carried out by constructing custom made gas centered swirl coaxial atomizers. Two different atomizer configurations with varying swirl effect were studied. The jets were injected into ambient atmospheric air medium with tap water and air as experimental fluids. The flow conditions were described in terms of Weber number (Wel) and Reynolds number (Reg) for liquid sheet and the air jet respectively. Spray images were captured by employing an image acquisition system comprising a high resolution digital camera and a strobe lamp. The captured spray images at different combinations of Wel and Reg were analyzed to extract quantitative measurements of breakup length (Lb), spray cone angle (θs), spray width (SW) and two-dimensional surface profile of liquid sheets. Quantitative analysis of the variation of Lb with Reg with different values of Wel suggested that low inertia liquid sheets undergo an efficient breakup process. High inertia liquid sheets ignore the presence of central air jet at lower values of Reg however undergo air jet breakup at higher values of Reg. Qualitative analysis of experimental observations revealed that the entrainment process, established between the inner surface of the liquid sheet and the boundary of central jet, triggers the air assisted sheet breakup by drawing the liquid sheet closer to the spray axis. The entrainment process may be developing corrugations on the surface of liquid sheet which promotes the production of thick liquid ligaments from the sheet surface. The level of surface corrugations on the liquid sheet, quantified by means of tortuosity of liquid sheet profile, increases with increasing Reg. Limited studies on the effect of variation swirl intensity on the air assisted breakup process of liquid sheets did not show any significant influence for the atomizers examined in the present work.

Nous nous sommes intéressés dans la présente thèse à l’étude de l’écoulement gravitaire de nappesliquides non guidées qui s’écoulent verticalement dans l’air ambiant. Après une synthèse bibliographique,nous avons réalisé une double étude, expérimentale et numérique, en considérant des liquidesde viscosités différentes (allant de 1 à 50 fois celle de l’eau) et de tension superficielle proche de cellede l’eau. Le nombre de Reynolds Rel du liquide a varié de quelques unités à quelques milliers alorsque le nombre de Weber du liquide allait approximativement de 0.1 à 10. Le dispositif expérimentalque nous avons mis en place nous a permis de créer et d’étudier les formes géométriques des nappesliquides. Nous avons employé une méthode expérimentale originale pour mesurer le champ d’épaisseurdes nappes. Nous avons mené, parallèlement aux expériences, des simulations numériques 2D et 3Dinstationnaires et diphasiques (VOF), utilisant le calcul parallèle. Nous avons trouvé que les nappesexpérimentales et numériques deviennent plus courtes (verticalement) et moins épaisses lorsque le débitdiminue. Expérimentalement, lorsque le débit du liquide devient suffisamment faible, des filamentsliquides commencent à apparaître à coté d’une nappe moins large qu’auparavant. Dans le cas desnappes d’eau, cette transition de régime d’écoulement a été précédée de l’apparition systématique detrous dans la partie inférieure des nappes. Pour les autres liquides newtoniens plus visqueux (solutionsaqueuses de glycérine), l’apparition des filaments liquides a été précédée d’une déstabilisation des bourreletsqui délimitent la partie plane des nappes. Nous avons étendu par la suite l’étude expérimentaleà celle de fluides au comportement rhéologique plus complexe en utilisant un liquide non newtonienrhéofluidifiant. Nous avons montré pour ce fluide rhéofluidifiant que le débit associé à la transition versle régime des filaments diminue en comparaison avec celui associé à un liquide newtonien de viscositésimilaire. Cela nous a conduit à suggérer que la présence des propriétés rhéofluidifiantes des nappesliquides peut représenter une solution pour les applications de "coating" pour lesquelles on cherche àproduire des nappes stables et sans percement dans des configurations d’écoulement de faibles débits. / In this thesis, unguided plane liquid sheets flowing vertically by gravity in an ambient air atmosphereare studied experimentally and numerically. First of all a litterature survey clearly identified themain issues regarding the dynamics and modelling of such flows. Subsequently, different liquids exhibitinga wide range of viscosity (1 to 50 times that of water) and a surface tension close to that of waterwere selected. The liquid flow regimes were characterized by a Reynolds number Rel ranging from afew units to a few thousand while the Weber number Wel was varied between 0.1 to 10. A dedicatedexperimental system was designed and operated to study the relevant sheet features (geometry, thickness)by means of an original optical method. In parallel, finite volume based 2D and 3D simulationsof the flows were undertaken. All rely on the volume of fluid method (VOF) combined with adaptivemeshing. The experimental and numerical sheets became shorter (vertically) and thinner as the massflow rate decreased. Experimentally, when the mass flow rate of the liquid becomes sufficiently low,liquid threads begin to appear next to a narrower sheet than before. In the case of water, this flowregime transition was preceded by the systematic appearance of holes in the lower part of the sheets.For the other more viscous Newtonian liquids (mixtures of water and glycerin), the appearance of theliquid threads was preceded by a destabilization of the rims which delimited the flat part of the sheets.The experimental study was then extended to fluids featuring more complex rheological behavior e.g.by the use of a non-Newtonian shear-thinning fluid. For such a fluid, it was shown that the criticalmass flow rate associated with the transition towards the threads regime was lower than its Newtoniancounterpart of similar viscosity. It is suggested that the presence of shear-thinning properties in liquidsheets may represent a solution for "coating" applications for which stable and non-pierced curtainsin flow configurations of low mass flow rates are targeted.