Research on the primary liquid atomization mechanism of a close-coupled vortical loop slit atomizer

To preliminarily investigate the liquid atomization (LA) process of a close-coupled vortical loop slit atomizer under realistic conditions, a numerical simulation of the flying trajectory of atomized droplets which were formed after the breaking of a metal melt and would not break anymore in the swirling flow field was carried out with the discrete phase model (DPM) based on analysis of the single-phase flow field characteristics of the gas. The results demonstrate that the radial paving scope of atomized droplets that are far away from the central axis and enter into the flow field from the source position expands at the front end of the melt delivery tube (MDT). The radial pavement scope of these atomized droplets at the front end of MDT is negatively correlated with their diameter. The recirculation zone (RZ) in the flow field of the vortical atomizer and the kinetic energy of the atomized droplets can significantly influence their flight trajectories. Moreover, two breakup models can be applied to a metal melt in a vortical atomizer-a fluctuating breakup model and a sheet breakup model.