Effect of Cross-Flow Swirl on the Trajectory of Spray in an Annular Passage

Author(s):  
Tushar Sikroria ◽  
Abhijit Kushari

Abstract This paper presents the experimental analysis of the impact of swirl number of cross-flowing air stream on liquid jet spray trajectory at a fixed air flow velocity of 42 m/s with the corresponding Mach number of 0.12. The experiments were conducted for 4 different swirl numbers (0, 0.2, 0.42 and 0.73) using swirl vanes at air inlet having angles of 0°, 15°, 30° and 45° respectively. Liquid to air momentum flux ratio (q) was varied from 5 to 25. High speed (@ 500 fps) images of the spray were captured and those images were processed using MATLAB to obtain the path of the spray at various momentum flux ratios. The results show interesting trends for the spray trajectory and the jet spread in swirling air flow. High swirling flows not only lead to spray with lower radial penetration due to sharp bending and disintegration of liquid jet, but also result in spray with high jet spread and spray area. Based on the results, correlations for the spray path have been proposed which incorporates the effects of the swirl number of the air flow.

Author(s):  
Tushar Sikroria ◽  
Abhijit Kushari ◽  
Saadat Syed ◽  
Jeffery A. Lovett

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of liquid jet breakup in a cross flow of air under the influence of swirl (swirl numbers 0 and 0.2) at a fixed air flow Mach number 0.12 (typical gas turbine conditions). The experiments have been conducted for various liquid to air momentum flux ratios (q) in the range of 1 to 25. High speed (@ 500 fps) images of the jet breakup process are captured and those images are processed using matlab to obtain the variation of breakup length and penetration height with momentum flux ratio. Using the high speed images, an attempt has been made to understand the physics of the jet breakup process by identification of breakup modes—bag breakup, column breakup, shear breakup, and surface breakup. The results show unique breakup and penetration behavior which departs from the continuous correlations typically used. Furthermore, the images show a substantial spatial fluctuation of the emerging jet resulting in a wavy nature related to effects of instability waves. The results with 15 deg swirl show reduced breakup length and penetration related to the nonuniform distribution of velocity that offers enhanced fuel atomization in swirling fuel nozzles.


Author(s):  
Tushar Sikroria ◽  
Abhijit Kushari ◽  
Saadat Syed ◽  
Jeffery A. Lovett

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation of liquid jet breakup in a cross-flow of air under the influence of swirl (swirl numbers 0 and 0.2) at a fixed air flow Mach No. 0.12 (typical gas turbine conditions). The experiments have been conducted for various liquid to air momentum flux ratios (q) in the range of 1 to 25. High speed (@ 500 fps) images of the jet breakup process are captured and those images are processed using MATLAB to obtain the variation of breakup length and penetration height with momentum flux ratio. Using the high speed images, an attempt has been made to understand the physics of the jet breakup process by identification of breakup modes — bag breakup, column breakup, shear breakup and surface breakup. The results show unique breakup and penetration behavior which departs from the continuous correlations typically used. Furthermore, the images show a substantial spatial fluctuation of the emerging jet resulting in a wavy nature related to effects of instability waves. The results with 15° swirl show reduced breakup length and penetration related to the non-uniform distribution of velocity that offers enhanced fuel atomization in swirling fuel nozzles.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tushar Sikroria ◽  
Abhijit Kushari

This paper presents detailed analysis of an experimental investigation of the impact of swirl number of subsonic cross-flowing air stream on liquid jet breakup at an airflow Mach number of 0.12, which is typical in gas turbine conditions. Experiments are performed for four different swirl numbers (0, 0.2, 0.42, and 0.73) using swirl vanes at air inlet having angles of 0 deg, 15 deg, 30 deg, and 45 deg, respectively. Liquid to air momentum flux ratios (q) have been varied from 1 to 25. High-speed images of the interaction of liquid and air streams are captured and processed to estimate the jet penetration height as well as the breakup location for various flow conditions. The results show unique behavior for each swirl number, which departs from the straight flow correlations available in the literature. Based on the results, an attempt has been made to understand the physics of the phenomena and come up with a simplified physical model for prediction of jet penetration. Furthermore, the high-speed images show a dominant influence of liquid column fluttering on fracture mechanism (column or shear breakup mechanism).


Author(s):  
Venkat S. Iyengar ◽  
Sathiyamoorthy Kumarasamy ◽  
Srinivas Jangam ◽  
Manjunath Pulumathi

Cross flow fuel injection is a widely used approach for injecting liquid fuel in gas turbine combustors and afterburners due to the higher penetration and rapid mixing of fuel and the cross flowing airstream. Because of the very limited residence time available in these combustors it is essential to ensure that smaller drop sizes are generated within a short axial distance from the injector in order to promote effective mixing. This requirement calls for detailed investigations into spray characteristics of different injector configurations in a cross-flow environment for identifying promising configurations. The drop size characteristics of a liquid jet issuing from a forward angled injector into a cross-flow of air were investigated experimentally at conditions relevant to gas turbine afterburners. A rig was designed and fabricated to investigate the injection of liquid jet in subsonic cross-flow with a rectangular test section of cross section measuring 50 mm by 70 mm. Experiments were done with a 10 degree forward angled 0.8 mm diameter plain orifice nozzle which was flush mounted on the bottom plate of test section. Laser diffraction using Malvern Spraytec particle analyzer was used to measure drops size and distributions in the near field of the spray. Measurements were performed at a distance of 70 mm from the injector at various locations along the height of the spray plume for a reasonable range of liquid flow rates as in practical devices. The sprays were characterized using the non dimensional parameters such as the Weber number and the momentum flux ratio and drop sizes were measured at three locations along the height of the spray from the bottom wall. The momentum flux ratio was varied from 5 to 25. Results indicate that with increase in momentum flux ratio the SMD reduced at the specific locations and an higher overall SMD was observed as one goes from the bottom to the top of the spray plume. This was accompanied by a narrowing of the drop size distribution.


Author(s):  
Muthuselvan Govindaraj ◽  
Muralidhara Halebidu Suryanarayanarao ◽  
Prateekkumar Kotegar ◽  
Sonali Gupta ◽  
Sanjay Shankar ◽  
...  

The main objective of this computational analysis is to investigate the effect of increase in Weber number at constant momentum flux ratio on the primary breakup process and deformation of kerosene jet in cross stream air flow. Unsteady computational analysis with VOF approach is carried out to simulate the two phase flow at three different cross flow Weber number conditions (150, 350 and 400) at constant momentum flux ratio of 17. Since the results of VOF technique is highly sensitive to the size and distribution of grid, grid optimization process is carried out, with both structured and unstructured forms of the grid. Since the structured grid with number of elements 17,96,181 displayed better matching with experimental results of upper trajectory of kerosene jet; this grid is used to investigate the effect of turbulence model and Weber number on the windward trajectory of kerosene jet in cross flow air stream. Initially to evaluate the results of computational analysis; simulations are carried out with larger computational domain (with number of elements 17,96,181). Windward trajectory of computational analysis is compared with experimental results of upper trajectory predicted using image processing technique and reasonable overall matching is observed. To investigate the primary breakup process and deformation of liquid jet at three different increasing Weber number conditions, simulations are carried out with smaller computational domain with higher mesh density with number of elements 33,96,146. The computational technique used in the present analysis exactly captures the modes of breakup observed from experimental results at different Weber number operating conditions. To characterize the deformation of liquid jet at different Weber number conditions; near-field trajectory, cross stream dimension and wave length of liquid jet are quantified at different instants of time. With increase in Weber number, decrease in penetration of liquid jet along transverse direction and more bending of liquid jet along flow direction is observed. From the velocity profile along transverse direction of three different conditions, stronger shearing of liquid film is observed in higher Weber number conditions.


Author(s):  
Yosef Rezaei ◽  
Mehran Tadjfar

An experimental investigation was performed to study the physics of liquid jets injected into a low subsonic crossflow. The jets are issued from elliptical and circular injectors with equivalent exit area. The liquid jet was visualized using shadowgraph technique and a high speed camera was used to record the instantaneous status of the jet. The liquid / air momentum flux ratio and air Weber number were varied to examine their effects on different parameters of the flow like liquid jet column trajectory, breakup point and breakup regimes. The major axis of the elliptical nozzle was aligned parallel and perpendicular to the air crossflow direction. Two different breakup modes were observed, column breakup and bag breakup. Based on the obtained results some characteristics of injected liquid jets into the air crossflow such as penetration depth and the trajectory of liquid jet were affected by changing the nozzle exit shape.


Author(s):  
Amirreza Amighi ◽  
Nasser Ashgriz

An experimental study of liquid jet injection into subsonic air crossflow is presented. The aim of this study was to relate the jet trajectory to flow parameters, including jet and air velocities, pressure and temperature, as well as a set of nondimensional variables. For this purpose, an experimental setup was developed, which could withstand high temperatures and pressures. Images were captured using a laser-based shadowgraphy system. A total of 209 different conditions were tested and over 72,000 images were captured and processed. The crossflow air temperatures were 25 °C, 200 °C, and 300 °C; absolute crossflow air pressures were 2.1, 3.8, and 5.2 bars, and various liquid and gas velocities were tested for each given temperature and pressure. The results indicate that the trajectory and atomization change when the air and jet velocities are changed while keeping the momentum flux ratio constant. Therefore, it is beneficial to describe the trajectory based on air and jet Weber numbers or momentum flux ratio in combination with one of the Weber numbers. Also, examples are given where both Weber numbers are kept constant but the atomization is changed, and therefore, other terms beyond inertia terms are required to describe the spray behavior. It is also shown that the gas viscosity has to be considered when developing correlations. The correlations that include this term are generally better in predicting the trajectory. Therefore, Ohnesorge numbers in combination with the Weber numbers is used in the present correlations to describe the trajectories.


Author(s):  
Eugene Lubarsky ◽  
Jonathan R. Reichel ◽  
Ben T. Zinn ◽  
Rob McAmis

This paper describes an experimental investigation of the spray created by Jet A fuel injection from a plate containing sharp edged orifice 0.018 inches (457 μm) in diameter and L/D ratio of 10 into the crossflow of preheated air (555 K) at elevated pressure in the test section (4 ata) and liquid to air momentum-flux ratio of 40. A 2 component Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer used for measuring the characteristics of the spray. The Weber number of the spray in crossflow was varied between 33 and 2020 and the effect of Weber number on spray properties was investigated. It was seen that shear breakup mechanism dominates at Weber number greater than about 100. Droplets’ diameters were found to be in the range of 15-30 microns for higher values of Weber numbers, while larger droplets (100-200 microns) were observed at Weber number of 33. Larger droplets were observed at the periphery of the spray. The droplet velocities and diameters were measured in a plane 30mm downstream of the orifice along the centerline of the spray at an incoming air flow Mach number of 0.2 and liquid to air momentum-flux ratio of 40. The droplets reach a maximum of 90% of the flow velocity at this location. The velocity of droplets in the directions perpendicular to the air flow direction is higher at the periphery of the spray possibly due to the presence of larger droplets. The RMS values of the droplet velocities are highest slightly off center of the centerline of the spray showing the presence of strong vortices formed due to the liquid jet in crossflow. The data presented here could serve as benchmark data for CFD code validation.


Author(s):  
Manu Kamin ◽  
Prashant Khare

Abstract A comprehensive study is conducted to identify the effects of momentum flux ratio on the spray and vaporization characteristics of liquid jet injected in air crossflow at elevated temperatures, a configuration relevant to high-speed propulsion systems, such as ramjets and afterburners. The physical setup consists of a straight chamber with a triangular bluff body down-stream of the liquid injection location. The numerical simulations are based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian framework, where the gas phase flow behaviors such as recirculation zones, turbulence statistics, mixing of vaporized liquid and gas streams are resolved by solving the complete set of three-dimensional conservation equations of mass, momentum, energy and species, and the liquid phase is treated using the blob approach and tracked in a Lagrangian coordinate system. Turbulence closure is achieved using Large Eddy Simulation (LES) technique. Primary breakup of the liquid jet is simulated using the K-H wave breakup model, and the Taylor Analogy Breakup (TAB) model is used for secondary breakup. Two-way coupling between the liquid and gas phases is implemented in the LES framework to systematically model the exchange of mass, momentum and energy between the two phases. The formulation is validated against experimental measurements of liquid jet penetration and sauter mean diameter for a Weber number of 68 and momentum flux ratio of 9 at two temperatures, 298K and 573K. Results show excellent agreement with measurements for both cases. Next, simulations are conducted for a range of momentum flux ratios from 10–140 to identify the detailed gas and spray fields for vaporizing flow cases. This study helps to estimate the penetration of the liquid jet, droplet distribution, and then, location of the core of evaporated liquid in the gas-phase are quantitatively identified.


2005 ◽  
Vol 127 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Flouros

Trends in aircraft engines have dictated high speed rolling element bearings up to 3 million DN or more with the consequence of having high amounts of heat rejection in the bearing chambers and high oil scavenge temperatures. A parametric study on the bearing power consumption has been performed with a 124 mm pitch circle diameter (PCD) ball bearing in a bearing chamber that has been adapted from the RB199 turbofan engine DN∼2×106. The operating parameters such as oil flow, oil temperature, sealing air flow, bearing chamber pressure, and shaft speed have been varied in order to assess the impact on the power consumption. This work is the first part of a survey aiming to reduce power losses in bearing chambers. In the first part, the parameters affecting the power losses are identified and evaluated.


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