Swirl atomizers, producing hollow cone sprays, are used in many engine
ering applications and, for high supply pressures, they are used for a
ir pumping dust extraction, fire suppression and combustion. Swirl ato
mizers producing water sprays are here investigated experimentally to
give information on atomizer performance at supply pressures up to 15.
2 MPa. Some broad agreement of trends for discharge coefficient, drop
diameter and spray angle is found with results obtained at lower suppl
y pressure. Supply pressure is the most important parameter for determ
ining the mean drop size, which is only weakly dependent on other feat
ures of the atomizer geometry. Information is presented on the effects
of inlet port geometry and swirl chamber length and diameter. and the
se show both discrepancies and agreements with published work at lower
pressures. The observations indicate the existence and importance of
turbulent flow inside these high velocity atomizer flows. Copyright (C
) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.