Numerical Study of Internal Two-Phase Flow Characteristics of an Outside-In-Liquid Atomizer

The flow mechanism of internal two-phase flow atomization remains unclear despite its widespread applications. A newly outside-in-liquid (OIL) atomizer is designed to investigate the two-phase flow mechanism inside the effervescent atomizer in this work. Numerical simulation is used to study the internal flow characteristics of the OIL atomizer under different gas–liquid mass flow ratios (GLRs). The findings indicate that the volume-of-fluid (VOF) model and compressible Euler method effectively capture the intricate evolution of the internal flow. The cavitation phenomenon occurs before the gas phase reaching the orifice. Subsequently, the cavitation phenomenon disappears as the gas phase flows downstream into the orifice. At different GLRs, the gas phase before reaching the mixing chamber is a single separated bubble. However, the final flow patterns are mainly annular flow, which is most obvious at high GLR. Increasing the GLR can increase the gas void fraction in the orifice. Furthermore, the gas void fraction will reach the peak faster and then remain stable. The two phases are accelerated after entering the orifice. Among them, the flow velocity of gas phase is much higher than that of liquid phase. This research demonstrates the notable impact of GLR on the internal flow. Furthermore, it addresses the existing research gap in this aspect of internal flow.