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Study on Spray Characteristics of Simulant Gel in Pressure Swirl Injector

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Abstract

In this study, the effect of gellant concentration on spray characteristics was investigated in a pressure swirl injector. The cold-flow tests of simulant gel were carried out to identify the air core formation of non-Newtonian fluid within the injector. Morphological analysis of the spray shapes was performed with regards to the air core location. Results show that the spray patterns can be classified into four distinct shapes as reported earlier in the literature. However, the transiting border between spray patterns was somewhat unlike due to the different gellant type used in this study. By categorizing the breakup regimes with dimensionless numbers, critical curves dividing each breakup regions were proposed. Regarding the quantitative spray characteristics, whether the gellant concentration increased or the pressure drop decreased, the spray angle was reduced, while the breakup length was elongated. These facts were partly due to the increased momentum loss triggered by relatively high viscosity.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National R&D Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by Ministry of Science and ICT (2020M3F6A1110342) and was supported by 2019 Korea Aerospace University Faculty Research grant.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang, Republic of Korea

    Janghee Cho & Donghee Lee

  2. School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Korea Aerospace University, Goyang, Republic of Korea

    Tae Gon Kang & Heejang Moon

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  1. Janghee Cho
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  2. Donghee Lee
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Correspondence to Heejang Moon.

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An earlier version of this paper was presented at APISAT 2021, Jeju, South Korea, in November 2021.

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Cho, J., Lee, D., Kang, T.G. et al. Study on Spray Characteristics of Simulant Gel in Pressure Swirl Injector. Int. J. Aeronaut. Space Sci. 23, 794–803 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42405-022-00504-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42405-022-00504-0

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