On the Contribution of Drag and Turbulent Stresses in the Fragmentation of Liquid Droplets: A Computational Study

In a recent publication (Aly et al., International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 37(6) pp 618-623), the authors have developed a new mathematical model for predicting spray and atomization characteristics in an Eulerian-Eulerian framework. The model takes into account both the drag and turbulence induced fragmentation stresses. In the present paper, the authors investigate the relative contribution of the two different stresses in the break-up process using the new model for a case of a co-axial air-blast atomizer. The results show that turbulent stresses play the dominant role in the fragmentation of liquid droplets.