Effect of ambient pressure on liquid swirl injector flow dynamics

In this paper, a combined theoretical and numerical analysis is performed to study the internal and external flowfields of a liquid swirl injector. The effect of ambient pressure on the injector dynamics is explored systematically over a range of 1-50 atm. An increase in the ambient pressure increases the liquid film thickness, but decreases the spreading angle. This phenomenon can be attributed to the modification of the velocity profiles within the liquid film near the gas-liquid interface due to the alteration of the gas-phase shear stresses with pressure. The friction force at the interface plays a minor role. The generation and existence of stationary waves in the injector nozzle is also considered. At a higher ambient pressure, the pressure drop across the liquid sheet downstream of the injector exit increases, thereby suppressing the spreading of the liquid sheet. This in turn increases the thickness of the liquid sheet, and subsequently increases the breakup length at higher pressure. A semi-empirical model is developed to relate the velocity and pressure distributions near the surface of the liquid sheet. Good agreement is achieved between the measured and predicted shape and spreading angle of the liquid sheet.