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Progress in Spray Science and Technology

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Mechanical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 40731

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Miguel R. Oliveira Panão

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rua Luis Reis Santos, University of Coimbra, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: thermal engineering systems; renewable energy technologies; thermal design and optimization; thermal management; thermal storage; energy capture technology; thermal engineering economics; laser diagnostics; heat and fluid multiphase flows; constructal theory; information theory in data analysis
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Prof. Dr. António Luis N. Moreira

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Guest Editor

Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Interests: multi-scale transport phenomena at solid-liquid interfaces, thermodynamics, combustion and IC engines
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Special Issue Information

Spray science and technology are based on the fundamental hydrodynamic mechanisms underlying the formation of droplets and particles in a spray that can be used in a multitude of engineering systems.

The scope of this Special Issue highlights the progress in spray science and technology in a reciprocal way. The progress of new scientific insights in spray formation inspired by technological challenges, and the progress of new technologies developed from advances in spray science.

There are numerous challenges that we face in this century where the application of sprays plays an important role, such as sustainable energy systems and storage, thermal management technologies, agriculture, medicine, the pharmaceutical industry, the painting and coating industries, and many others.

This Special Issue will consider contributions in the progress of spray science and technology on the following topics:

New developments
- in physical models of liquid atomization;
- and atomization strategies;
Advances
- in multiphase flows of droplets and particles;
- in statistical approaches to experimental spray characterization;
Innovative
- experimental techniques in spray characterization;
- applications in spray technology;
- insights and applications of spray–wall interactions;
- research in the dynamic thermofluid behavior of sprays under extreme environments;
Challenges in the atomization of nanofluids.

Prof. Dr. Miguel R. Oliveira Panão
Prof. Dr. António Luis N. Moreira
Guest Editors

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Keywords

liquid atomization
droplet breakup
spray characterization
multiphase flows
particles formation
statistical analysis
experimental techniques
numerical models
nanofluids
droplet and spray vaporization

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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25 pages, 5734 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling the Formation of Urea-Water Sprays from an Air-Assisted Nozzle

by Jens Frühhaber, Christian Lieber, Dominik Mattes, Thomas Lauer, Rainer Koch and Hans-Jörg Bauer

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(16), 5723; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10165723 - 18 Aug 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3246

Abstract

Ammonia preparation from urea-water solutions is a key feature to ensure an effective reduction of nitrogen oxides in selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. Thereby, air-assisted nozzles provide fine sprays, which enhance ammonia homogenization. In the present study, a methodology was developed to model the spray formation by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for this type of atomizer. Experimental validation data was generated in an optically accessible hot gas test bench using a shadowgraphy setup providing droplet velocities and size distributions at designated positions inside the duct. An adaption of the turbulence model was performed in order to correct the dispersion of the turbulent gas jet. The spray modeling in the near nozzle region is based on an experimentally determined droplet spectrum in combination with the WAVE breakup model. This methodology was applied due to the fact that the emerging two-phase flow will immediately disintegrate into a fine spray downstream the nozzle exit, which is also known from cavitating diesel nozzles. The suitability of this approach was validated against the radial velocity and droplet size distributions at the first measurement position downstream the nozzle. In addition, the simulation results serve as a basis for the investigation of turbulent dispersion phenomena and evaporation inside the spray. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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22 pages, 8843 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Approaches for Detailed Investigations on Transient Flow and Spray Characteristics during High Pressure Fuel Injection

by Noritsune Kawaharada, Lennart Thimm, Toni Dageförde, Karsten Gröger, Hauke Hansen and Friedrich Dinkelacker

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(12), 4410; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10124410 - 26 Jun 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3643

Abstract

High pressure injection systems have essential roles in realizing highly controllable fuel injections in internal combustion engines. The primary atomization processes in the near field of the spray, and even inside the injector, determine the subsequent spray development with a considerable impact on the combustion and pollutant formation. Therefore, the processes should be understood as much as possible; for instance, to develop mathematical and numerical models. However, the experimental difficulties are extremely high, especially near the injector nozzle or inside the nozzle, due to the very small geometrical scales, the highly concentrated optical dense spray processes and the high speed and drastic transient nature of the spray. In this study, several unique and partly recently developed techniques are applied for detailed measurements on the flow inside the nozzle and the spray development very near the nozzle. As far as possible, the same three-hole injector for high pressure diesel injection is used to utilize and compare different measurement approaches. In a comprehensive section, the approach is taken to discuss the measurement results in comparison. It is possible to combine the observations within and outside the injector and to discuss the entire spray development processes for high pressure diesel sprays. This allows one to confirm theories and to provide detailed and, in parts, even quantitative data for the validation of numerical models. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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16 pages, 4265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Machine Learning Method to Quantitatively Evaluate the Droplet Size and Deposition Distribution of the UAV Spray Nozzle

by Han Guo, Jun Zhou, Fei Liu, Yong He, He Huang and Hongyan Wang

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(5), 1759; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10051759 - 4 Mar 2020

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4624

Abstract

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) spray has been used for efficient and adaptive pesticide applications with its low costs. However, droplet drift is the main problem for UAV spray and will induce pesticide waste and safety concerns. Droplet size and deposition distribution are both highly related to droplet drift and spray effect, which are determined by the nozzle. Therefore, it is necessary to propose an evaluating method for a specific UAV spray nozzles. In this paper, four machine learning methods (REGRESS, least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM), extreme learning machine, and radial basis function neural network (RBFNN)) were applied for quantitatively evaluating one type of UAV spray nozzle (TEEJET XR110015VS), and the case of twin nozzles was investigated. The results showed REGRESS and LS-SVM are good candidates for droplet size evaluation with the coefficient of determination in the calibration set above 0.9 and root means square errors of the prediction set around 2 µm. RBFNN achieved the best performance for the evaluation of deposition distribution and showed its potential for determining the droplet size of overlapping area. Overall, this study proved the accuracy and efficiency of using the machine learning method for UAV spray nozzle evaluation. Additionally, the study demonstrated the feasibility of using machine learning model to predict the droplet size in the overlapping area of twin nozzles. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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18 pages, 1270 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Advances in Imaging Diagnostics for Spray and Particle Research in High-Speed Flows

by Julien Manin and William D. Bachalo

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(4), 1450; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10041450 - 21 Feb 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2544

Abstract

Measurements of high-pressure sprays and particle fields in high-speed flows have been very challenging for the existing instrumentation. Deformed drops or solid particles significantly limit the range of experimental methods that can be applied for detailed, quantitative measurements. We developed advanced microscope imaging equipment and diagnostic methods to characterize fast-moving droplets or particles. We designed illumination systems based on high-power light-emitting diode (LED) and incoherent laser devices capable of short, intense light pulses. We compared their characteristics and performance separately, as well as their interaction within a complete line-of-sight microscope imaging system. The optical design of the microscope setup was optimized via ray tracing simulations showing high energy losses for LED illumination compared to laser radiation, as confirmed experimentally. The energy transmission measurements provided guidance about the pulse energy density necessary to maximize camera response and signal-to-noise ratio. Characterization testing supported that both illumination systems are valid options for microscopy applications, with an advantage to LED for image quality and resolution performance, but a strong limitation to distance, where the multi-beam laser system demonstrated its superiority. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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17 pages, 7637 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of SLIPI-Based Techniques for Droplet Size, Concentration, and Liquid Volume Fraction Mapping in Sprays

by Yogeshwar Nath Mishra, Timo Tscharntke, Elias Kristensson and Edouard Berrocal

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(4), 1369; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10041369 - 18 Feb 2020

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4374

Abstract

Structured laser illumination planar imaging (SLIPI)-based techniques have been employed during the past decade for addressing multiple light scattering issues in spray imaging. In this article, SLIPI droplet sizing based on the intensity ratio of laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) over Mie scattering (SLIPI-LIF/Mie) and SLIPI-Scan for extinction-coefficient (µ_e) mapping are applied simultaneously. In addition, phase Doppler anemometry (PDA) and numerical calculations based on the Lorenz–Mie theory are also employed in order to extract the droplets Sauter mean diameter (SMD), the droplets number density (N), and the liquid volume fraction (LVF) in a steady asymmetric hollow cone water spray. The SLIPI-LIF/Mie ratio is converted to droplets SMD by means of a calibration procedure based on PDA measurements. The droplet SMD for the investigated spray varies from 20 µm to 60 µm, the N values range from 5 to 60 droplets per mm³, and the LVF varies between 0.05 × 10⁻⁴ and 5.5 × 10⁻⁴ within the probed region of the spray. To generate a series of two-dimensional images at different planes, the spray scanning procedure is operated in a “bread slicing” manner by moving the spray perpendicularly to the light sheet axis. From the resulting series of images, the procedure described here shows the possibility of obtaining three-dimensional reconstructions of each scalar quantity, allowing a more complete characterization of droplet clouds forming the spray region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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15 pages, 6249 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of the LIF/Mie Ratio from Individual Droplets for Planar Droplet Sizing: Application to Gasoline Fuels and Their Mixtures with Ethanol

by Matthias Koegl, Kevin Baderschneider, Florian J. Bauer, Bernhard Hofbeck, Edouard Berrocal, Stefan Will and Lars Zigan

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(22), 4900; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9224900 - 15 Nov 2019

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3321

Abstract

In this work, the possibility of using planar droplet sizing (PDS) based on laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and Mie scattering was investigated within the framework of measuring the droplet Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of direct-injection spark-ignition (DISI) spray systems. For this purpose, LIF and Mie signals of monodisperse fuel droplets produced by a droplet generator were studied at engine relevant diameters (20–50 µm). The surrogate gasoline fuel Toliso (consisting of 65 vol. % isooctane, 35 vol. % toluene) and the biofuel blend E20 (consisting of 80 vol. % Toliso, 20 vol. % ethanol) were used and which were doped with the fluorescence dye “nile red”. The effects of ethanol admixture, dye concentration, laser power, and temperature variation on the LIF/Mie ratio were studied simultaneously at both macroscopic and microscopic scale. The deduced calibration curves of the LIF and Mie signals of both fuels showed volumetric and surface dependent behaviors, respectively, in accordance with the assumptions in the literature. The existence of glare points and morphology-dependent resonances (MDRs) lead to slightly higher LIF and Mie exponents of E20 in comparison to Toliso. In principle, these calibration curves enable the determination of the SMD from LIF/Mie ratio images of transient fuel sprays. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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26 pages, 5949 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Microscopic Imaging Spray Diagnostics under High Temperature Conditions: Application to Urea–Water Sprays

by Christian Lieber, Rainer Koch and Hans-Jörg Bauer

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(20), 4403; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9204403 - 17 Oct 2019

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4021

Abstract

The quantitative investigation of droplet laden turbulent flows at high temperature conditions is of great importance for numerous applications. In this study, an experiment was set up for investigation of evaporating urea–water sprays, which are relevant for the effective reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions of diesel engines using Selective Catalytic Reduction. A shadowgraphy setup is pushed to its limits in order to detect droplet diameters as small as 4

μ m

and droplet velocities up to 250

m s^{- 1}

. In addition, the operating conditions of the gaseous flow of up to 873

K

and

0.6

M

Pa

are an additional challenge. Due to the high temperature environment, image quality is prone to be compromised by Schlieren effects and astigmatism phenomena. A water-cooled window and an astigmatism correction device are installed in order to correct these problems. The results to be presented include characteristics of the turbulent gas flow as well as detailed spray characteristics at different positions downstream of the atomiser. It is demonstrated that the velocity of the gas can be approximated by the velocity of the smallest detectable droplets with sufficient accuracy. Furthermore, the statistical analysis of velocity fluctuations provides data for predicting the turbulent dispersion of the droplets. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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Review

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21 pages, 4593 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Insights into Single Droplet Impact Models upon Liquid Films Using Alternative Fuels for Aero-Engines

by Daniela F. S. Ribeiro, André R. R. Silva and Miguel R. O. Panão

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(19), 6698; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10196698 - 25 Sep 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3417

Abstract

In aero-engines, the introduction of biofuels is among the best alternatives to fossil fuels, and this change is likely to affect the impact of droplets on interposed surfaces. Under this framework, this work reviews the main morphological hydrodynamic structures occurring upon the impact of a liquid droplet on a wetted surface, using jet fuel and biofuel mixtures as alternative fuels. The experiments performed allow investigating the effect of the liquid film thickness on the dynamic behavior of single drop impact, considering the relevancy of these phenomena to the optimization of engine operating parameters. Particular emphasis is given to the occurrence of crown splash, and the morphological differences in the outcomes of drop impact depending on the impact conditions and fluid properties. The four fluids tested included pure water (as reference), 100% Jet A-1, 75%/25%, and 50%/50% mixtures of Jet A-1 and NExBTL (Neste Renewable Diesel)—with the Weber impact number between 103 and 1625; Reynolds values 1411–16,889; and dimensionless film thicknesses of δ = 0.1, 0.5, and 1. The analysis on the secondary atomization for the different fluids evidences the predominance of prompt and crown splash, and jetting for alternative fuels. Finally, besides a systematic review of empirical correlations for the transition to splash, we investigate their universality by extrapolating the validation range to evaluate their ability to predict the outcome of impact accurately. One of the correlations studied show the highest degree of universality for the current experimental conditions, despite its limitation to thin liquid films (

δ = 0.1

). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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18 pages, 9638 KiB

Open AccessReview

On the Statistical Characterization of Sprays

by Miguel O. Panão, Ana S. Moita and António L. Moreira

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(17), 6122; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10176122 - 3 Sep 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3440

Abstract

The statistical characterization of sprays is an essential way of organizing data on drop size and velocity to provide reliable information on the spray dynamics. A clear presentation of data using statistical tools provides evidence of a clear research question underlying the spray characterization. In this article, a review of the best practices to build histograms is presented, as well as three relevant details on spray characterization: (i) the application of information theory to assess if we have enough information (not data); (ii) the link between mathematical probability distributions and the physical interpretation of spray data; (iii) and introducing, for the first time, the concept of drop size diversity, with the quantification of the polydispersion and heterogeneity degrees. Finally, the view presented is applied to the characterization of nanofluid sprays for thermal management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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Other

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10 pages, 920 KiB

Open AccessOpinion

Plasma and Aerosols: Challenges, Opportunities and Perspectives

by Augusto Stancampiano, Tommaso Gallingani, Matteo Gherardi, Zdenko Machala, Paul Maguire, Vittorio Colombo, Jean-Michel Pouvesle and Eric Robert

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(18), 3861; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9183861 - 14 Sep 2019

Cited by 51 | Viewed by 6398

Abstract

The interaction of plasmas and liquid aerosols offers special advantages and opens new perspectives for plasma–liquid applications. The paper focuses on the key research challenges and potential of plasma-aerosol interaction at atmospheric pressure in several fields, outlining opportunities and benefits in terms of process tuning and throughputs. After a short overview of the recent achievements in plasma–liquid field, the possible application benefits from aerosol injection in combination with plasma discharge are listed and discussed. Since the nature of the chemicophysical plasma-droplet interactions is still unclear, a multidisciplinary approach is recommended to overcome the current lack of knowledge and to open the plasma communities to scientists from other fields, already active in biphasic systems diagnostic. In this perspective, a better understanding of the high chemical reactivity of gas–liquid reactions will bring new opportunities for plasma assisted in-situ and on-demand reactive species production and material processing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Spray Science and Technology)

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