Some Effects of Using Water as a Test Fluid in Fuel Nozzle Spray Analysis

Abstract

A systematic investigation was made of the differences in atomizing performance between water and kerosene fuel for six simplex fuel nozzles of small flow capacity. A large number of tests was run using two methods of spray analysis, to determine the effect of nozzle liquid pressure drop (ΔPF) on Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD). It was found that there is a clearly-defined relationship dependent on both the relative values of surface tension and also on a Weber Number calculated for conditions in the liquid film at the nozzle discharge orifice. It is concluded that large errors in estimating SMD for modeling programs are possible if results observed with water are assumed to be representative of behavior with kerosene fuel.