A Study on the Characteristics of an Oscillating Fluidic Atomizer

A unique feature of fluidic atomizers is that the nozzle geometry produces a thin capillary Jet which is forced to oscillate on a 2-dimensional plane through the use of a passive feedback mechanism. The objective of the current work is to characterize the influence of the stagnation pressure at the nozzle exit, jet oscillation and stretching on the breakup properties of the capillary ligament. To achieve this, shadow graph technique is used to measure size, shape, velocity and the number density of the droplets as a function of the position within the spray fan. The breakup length, defined as the radial distance from the breakup point, is analyzed as a function of the non-dimensional parameters. Finally, a kinematic model is developed to simulate the breakup of the oscillating jets at low stagnation pressures. Using the existing jet breakup theories, the model is used to predict the size and diameter distribution of the droplets after primary atomization.