SWIRL ATOMIZERS OPERATING AT HIGH WATER-PRESSURE

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.