Experimental Investigation on Atomization of JP-10 Slurry Jets Containing Boron Nanoparticles

Abstract

The present work aims to experimentally investigate the atomization of JP-10 based slurry jets containing boron nanoparticles. A coaxial airblast injector is used to atomize the slurry fuel. Different injector operating conditions are realized by varying the air and the fuel flow rates through the atomizer. For each case, different particle-to-fuel mass loading ratios [Formula: see text] (equal to 0, 5, 10, and 20%) are investigated. Time-resolved imaging is performed near the nozzle exit and [Formula: see text] downstream of the injector exit to visualize the primary liquid jet breakup process and the resulting spray droplets, respectively. The instantaneous jet breakup length, droplet size, and velocity are obtained by processing the raw images. The influence of particle loading on the mean and fluctuations of jet breakup length, droplet size, and droplet size/velocity correlation is investigated in detail. The results highlight degradation in atomization quality for higher particle loading ratio in the base fuel. A monotonic increase in the mean jet breakup length with particle loading ratio is identified. The Sauter mean diameter increases by about 100% when [Formula: see text] is increased from 0 to 20%. It is found that [Formula: see text] must be accounted for, in addition to conventional nondimensional numbers, in the experimental correlations for jet breakup length and droplet size for nanofuel slurry.