An Analytical Approach for Calculation of Critical Weber Number of Droplet Breakup in Turbulent Gaseous Flows

作者：Omidvar Amir^*; Khaleghi Hassan

来源：Arabian Journal for Science and Engineering, 2012, 37(8): 2311-2321.

DOI：10.1007/s13369-012-0319-x

• Droplet
• Breakup
• Turbulence
• Weber number

An analytical approach for prediction of the ambient turbulence effects on critical Weber number of droplet breakup is suggested and validated against available experimental data. Critical Weber number is an appropriate criterion for prediction of droplet breakup initiation in inertially dominated flow fields. Experiments indicate that the breakup of droplets in turbulent flows requires a lower ratio of mean aerodynamic to surface forces (Weber number) compared with that in laminar flows. Until now no analytical or theoretical model for calculation of critical Weber number for droplet breakup considering ambient turbulence effects has been reported. The mathematical method suggested and developed in this research is partly based on Taylor analogy breakup model. In the present model the concept of hybrid time scale is used to consider the ambient turbulence effects on droplet breakup criterion. Comprehensive and simple analytical expression for prediction of critical Weber number derived in this paper gives accurate and close predictions compared with experimental data. Results indicate that the value of critical Weber number of droplet breakup decreases with increasing turbulence intensity. Furthermore, the effect of carrier-phase turbulence on droplet breakup is apparent even at high ambient pressures.

• 出版日期2012-12