Experimental Studies on Self-Oscillation of a Swirl Coaxial Injector

The spray and acoustic characteristics by the self-oscillation of a swirl coaxial injector were experimentally studied. The self-oscillation of a swirl coaxial injector is defined as pressure and flowrate oscillations by a time-delayed feedback between liquid and gas phase and has strong influences on atomization and mixing processes. Hence the occurrence and effect of the self-oscillation are measured using shadow photography technique, acoustic test and PDPA. The occurrence of self-oscillation largely depends on the injection conditions, such as pressure drop of liquid phase and relative momentum ratio. From the experimental results, self-oscillation occurs when the momentum of gas phase is enough large and the smaller the pressure drop of liquid phase is, the better self-oscillation occurs at the same momentum ratio. The self-oscillation is also affected by injector geometries, increasing the recess length results in the expansion of self-oscillation region and the increase of sound pressure level. The self-oscillation of a swirl coaxial injector accompanies a high intensity scream and this scream may provide harmful disturbances to combustion processes. Self-oscillation leads to strong changes in the drop size distribution and smoothly varies the slope of radial SMD distribution.