Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Collisions of Liquid Droplets in a Flow of Flue Gases

  • Published:
Journal of Engineering Physics and Thermophysics Aims and scope

Results of experimental investigations on the collision of water droplets and droplets of solutions with a lower surface tension (0.0361 N/m) and a higher dynamic viscosity (0.0108 Pa·s), as compared to those of water, in a flow of typical flue gases, e.g., the combustion products of kerosene, are presented. To meet the advanced industrial applications, the parameters of the collision of liquid droplets were varied within wide ranges: 0.1–0.7 mm for the radii of droplets, 0.1–7 m/s for the velocities of their movement, and 0–90° for the angles of attack of the droplets. Video frames of realization of the four regimes of collision of liquid droplets: their coagulation, flying-off, breakage, and rebound, were analyzed. Significant differences between the characteristics of the surface transformation of water droplets and droplets of solutions as a result of their collision were revealed. A comparison of the collisions of liquid droplets in the flue gases and in the air at room temperature has shown that these gases influence the characteristics of the liquid droplets colliding in them. The positions of the boundaries between the regimes of collision of liquid droplets on the charts of their interaction regimes were determined with regard for the dynamic viscosity and surface tension of the liquid in the droplets, the dimensionless parameter of their interaction, and the Weber number of the droplets. The main differences between the liquids in number and size of the secondary droplets formed as a result of the collision of their primary droplets were ascertained.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. C. Gotaas, P. Havelka, H. A. Jakobsen, H. F. Svendsen, M. Hase, N. Roth, and B. Weigand, Effect of viscosity on droplet–droplet collision outcome: Experimental study and numerical comparison, Phys. Fluids, 19, Article ID 102106 (2007).

  2. N. D. Agafonova and I. L. Paramonova, Estimation of the drop size in dispersed flow, J. Eng. Phys. Thermophys., 89, No. 4, 840–847 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. O. V. Vysokomornaya, G. V. Kuznetsov, P. A. Strizhak, and N. E. Shlegel’, Influence of the concentration of water droplets in an aerosol cloud on the characteristics of their collisional interaction, J. Eng. Phys. Thermophys., 93, No. 2, 298–309 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. N. Nikolopoulos, K.-S. Nikas, and G. Bergeles, A numerical investigation of central binary collision of droplets, Comput. Fluids, 38, 1191–1202 (2009).

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Z. Sun, G. Xi, and X. Chen, Mechanism study of deformation and mass transfer for binary droplet collisions with particle method, Phys. Fluids, 21, Article ID 032106 (2009).

  6. M. M. Mohammadi, S. Shahhosseini, and M. Bayat, Electrocoalescence of binary water droplets falling in oil: Experimental study, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 92, 2694–2704 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. M. Tang, C. K. Chan, Y. J. Li, H. Su, Q. Ma, Z. Wu, G. Zhang, Z. Wang, M. Ge, and M. Hu, A review of experimental techniques for aerosol hygroscopicity studies, Atm. Chem. Phys., 19, 12631–12686 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. A. O. Zhdanova, G. V. Kuznetsov, G. S. Nyashina, and I. S. Voitkov, Interaction of a liquid aerosol with the combustion front of a forest combustible material under the conditions of countercurrent air flow, J. Eng. Phys. Thermophys., 92, No. 3, 687–693 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Boretti, Water injection in directly injected turbocharged spark ignition engines, Appl. Therm. Eng., 52, 62–68 (2013).

  10. J. Bellan and R. Cuffel, A theory of nondilute spray evaporation based upon multiple drop interactions, Combust. Flame, 51, 55–67 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. S. S. Sazhin, Advanced models of fuel droplet heating and evaporation, Prog. Energy Combust. Sci., 32, 162–214 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. L. Wang, J. Feng, X. Gao, and X. Peng, Investigation on the oil–gas separation efficiency considering oil droplets breakup and collision in a swirling flow, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 117, 394–400 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. A. A. Antonnikova, V. A. Arkhipov, S. A. Basalaev, K. G. Perfil’eva, A. S. Usanina, and G. R. Shrager, Gravity sedimentation-induced deformation of a droplet under conditions of blowing-over by an incoming air stream, J. Eng. Phys. Thermophys., 91, No. 6, 1505–1513 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. L. Partridge, D. C. Y. Wong, M. J. H. Simmons, E. I. Părău, and S. P. Decent, Experimental and theoretical description of the break-up of curved liquid jets in the prilling process, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 83, 1267–1275 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. K. Willis and M. Orme, Binary droplet collisions in a vacuum environment: An experimental investigation of the role of viscosity, Exp. Fluids, 34, 28–41 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. V. Deprédurand, G. Castanet, and F. Lemoine, Heat and mass transfer in evaporating droplets in interaction: Influence of the fuel, Int. J. Heat Mass Transf., 53, 3495–3502 (2010).

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. G. Strotos, I. Malgarinos, N. Nikolopoulos, and M. Gavaises, Numerical investigation of aerodynamic droplet breakup in a high temperature gas environment, Fuel, 181, 450–462 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. P. P. Tkachenko, N. E. Shlegel, R. S. Volkov, and P. A. Strizhak, Experimental study of miscibility of liquids in binary droplet collisions, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 168, 1–12 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. G. V. Kuznetsov, M. V. Piskunov, R. S. Volkov, and P. A. Strizhak, Unsteady temperature fields of evaporating water droplets exposed to conductive, convective and radiative heating, Appl. Therm. Eng., 131, 340–355 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. R. K. Sharma, P. Ganesan, V. V. Tyagi, and T. M. I. Mahlia, Accelerated thermal cycle and chemical stability testing of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 6000 for solar thermal energy storage, Solar Energy Mater. Solar Cells, 147, 235–239 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. E. Calvo, R. Bravo, A. Amigo, and J. Gracia-Fadrique, Dynamic surface tension, critical micelle concentration, and activity coefficients of aqueous solutions of nonyl phenol ethoxylates, Fluid Phase Equilib., 282, 14–19 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Y. O. Williams, N. Roas-Escalona, G. Rodríguez-Lopez, A. Villa-Torrealba, and J. Toro-Mendoza, Modeling droplet coalescence kinetics in microfluidic devices using population balances, Chem. Eng. Sci., 201, 475–483 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. K. Lunkenheimer and K. D. Wantke, On the applicability of the du Nouy (ring) tensiometer method for the determination of surface tensions of surfactant solutions, J. Colloid Interface Sci., 66, 579–581 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. G. V. Kuznetsov, P. A. Strizhak, R. S. Volkov, and I. S. Voytkov, Gas temperature in the trace of water droplets streamlined by hot air flow, Int. J. Multiphase Flow, 91, 184–193 (2017).

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. Voytkov, R. Volkov, and P. Strizhak, Reducing the flue gases temperature by individual droplets, aerosol, and large water batches, Exp. Therm. Fluid Sci., 88, 301–316 (2017).

  26. M. Taghavi and J. Moghaddas, Using PLIF/PIV techniques to investigate the reactive mixing in stirred tank reactors with Rushton and pitched blade turbines, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 151, 190–206 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. S. Mandato, E. Rondet, G. Delaplace, A. Barkouti, L. Galet, P. Accart, T. Ruiz, and B. Cuq, Liquids’ atomization with two different nozzles: Modeling of the effects of some processing and formulation conditions by dimensional analysis, Powder Technol., 224, 323–330 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. L. Juslin, O. Antikainen, P. Merkku, and J. Yliruusi, Droplet size measurement: I. Effect of three independent variables on droplet size distribution and spray angle from a pneumatic nozzle, Int. J. Pharm., 123, 247–256 (1995).

  29. N. E. Shlegel, P. P. Tkachenko, and P. A. Strizhak, Collision of water droplets with different initial temperatures, Powder Technol., 367, 820–830 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. G. V. Kuznetsov, G. S. Nyashina, P. A. Strizhak, and T. R. Valiullin, Experimental research into the ignition and combustion characteristics of slurry fuels based on dry and wet coal processing waste, J. Energy Inst., 97, 213–224 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Y. Solomatin, N. E. Shlegel, and P. A. Strizhak, Atomization of promising multicomponent fuel droplets by their collisions, Fuel, 255, Article ID 115751 (2019).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30 Lenin Ave., Tomsk, 634050, Russia

    S. S. Kropotova, N. E. Shlegel’ & P. A. Strizhak

Authors
  1. S. S. Kropotova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. N. E. Shlegel’
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. A. Strizhak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P. A. Strizhak.

Additional information

Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 96, No. 2, pp. 328–336, March–April, 2023.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kropotova, S.S., Shlegel’, N.E. & Strizhak, P.A. Collisions of Liquid Droplets in a Flow of Flue Gases. J Eng Phys Thermophy 96, 328–337 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10891-023-02692-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10891-023-02692-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation