Effects of airblast atomizer design upon spray quality

The application of airblast atomization to gas turbine engines was investigated. The need to identify the effect of various design features on the spray quality to design atomizers of optimum performance with a minimum of cost and complexity is designed. The atomizer scale, configuration, the nature of fuel preparation before exposure to air, for the most commonly used prefilming and plain airblast atomizers are emphasized. The experimental mean drop size data was obtained through the use of laser light scattering techniques over a wide range of conditions. It is concluded that the plain jet airblast atomizer which features multiple, transversely injected liquid jets into a swirling airstream yield spray quality comparable to that achieved by their prefilming counterparts especially under high air pressure conditions.