Ultrasound-modulated twin-fluid atomization of a liquid jet.

A resonant liquid capillary wave theory which extends Taylor's dispersion relation to include the sheltering effect of liquid surface inclination caused by air flow is presented. The resulting dispersion curves are compared to new experimental results of how drop-size and size distributions vary with surface tension and air velocity in both airblast and ultrasound-modulated twin-fluid atomization of liquids with a constant kinematic viscosity of 2 cSt. Good agreements between the theoretical predictions of relative growth rates of the capillary waves and the experimental results of drop-size and size distributions led to the conclusion that Taylor-mode breakup of capillary waves plays a very important role in twin-fluid (airblast) atomization of a liquid jet. Thus, the ultrasound-modulated twin-fluid atomization not only verifies the capillary wave mechanism but also provides a means for controlling the drop-size and size distributions in twin-fluid atomization, which has a variety of applications in fuel combustion, spray drying, and spray coating.