Liquid jet breakup in a subsonic cross airflow: An experimental study of the effect of the gas phase turbulence

The effect of cross-airflow turbulence on the primary breakup mechanisms, trajectory, and location of a transverse liquid jet was experimentally investigated. The airflow turbulence intensity (Tu) was varied independently of the mean Weber number (We_g) and momentum flux ratio (q). The instantaneous Weber number range was found to increase with turbulence, allowing multiple breakup regimes to occur simultaneously. The breakup regimes were found to shift towards higher We_g breakup types. High Tu was found to cause surface breakup at large q and We_g. Increased Tu caused the liquid column to bend more into the crossflow and also made it fluctuate more. A critical height in the trajectory was found where the jet transitions from being dominated by the liquid jet flow in the near-field to being dominated by the crossflow turbulence in the far-field. This critical height strongly depends on q and Re_jet. A correlation for predicting the liquid jet trajectory was developed in terms of q, Re_jet, and Tu. The normalized breakup height was found to depend on Tu and q, with higher Tu causing a lower breakup height, and then plateauing at higher q. The normalized streamwise breakup distance was found to decrease with increasing q, and then plateauing.