Dynamics of Liquid Sheet Breakup in Splash Plate Atomization

Abstract

An experimental study was conducted to investigate the breakup of a liquid sheet produced by oblique impingement of a liquid jet on a plane solid surface. Experiments are carried out over a wide range of jet Weber number (80–6300) and various jet impingement angles (30 deg, 45 deg, and 60 deg) are employed to study the sheet dynamics. The breakup of a liquid sheet takes place in three modes, closed rim, open rim, and perforated sheet, depending upon the Weber number. The transitions across the modes are also influenced by the impingement angle with the transition Weber number reducing with increase in impingement angle. A modified regime map is proposed to illustrate the role of impingement angle in breakup transitions. A theoretical model based on force balance at the sheet edge is developed to predict the sheet parameters by taking the shear interaction between the sheet and the solid surface into account. The sheet shape predicted by the model fairly matches with the experimentally measured sheet shape. The breakup length and width of the sheet are measured and comparisons with the model predictions show good agreement in closed rim mode of breakup.