INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONTROL, AUTOMATION AND SYSTEMS

VOL.2 NO.3
ISSN 2165-8277 (Print) ISSN 2165-8285 (Online)
http://www.researchpub.org/journal/jac/jac.html

October 2013

A Theoretical Model for predicting the mean Droplet Diameter in Spray

based on the linear Stability Analysis

Ashraf Balabel1,2 and Safwat Wilson2

1

Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia.(Email:
ashrafbalabel@yahoo.com)
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Menoufiya University, Egypt.
Therefore, and because of the random nature of the
atomization process, the resultant spray is generally
considered as a system of drops and it is usually
characterized by a spectrum of drop sizes distributed
about some arbitrarily defined mean value. Several
mathematical and empirical distribution functions have
been proposed to replace the graphical representation of
drop size distribution with expressions whose parameters
can be obtained from a limited number of drop size
measurements [1]. However, none of these empirical and
mathematical functions is universally better than any
other, and the extent to which any particular function
matches any given set of data depends mainly on the
involved disintegration mechanism.

AbstractThe prediction of the droplets size in spray is one

of the most challenge problems in hydrodynamics
applications. In the present paper, a theoretical model for
predicting the volume mean diameter of droplets (MDD
model) produced by the atomization of cylindrical liquid jet
is developed and validated by the experimental
measurements. This work is motivated by the desire to
predict the mean droplet diameter in sprays according to
the nozzle operating conditions. The proposed model is
based on the modification of the linear theory formulation
coupled with a criterion concerning the drop formation. The
first step of the model consists of solving a modified form of
the dispersion equation, known as wave-breakup model,
obtained by Reitz and Bracco (1982) derived from the
linearization of the Navier-Stokes equations. Following, a
simple equation to predict the volume mean droplet
diameter from the instability analysis is developed. An
iterative technique is adopted to search for the maximum
value of the growth rate over the possible ranges of the
disturbance wavelength. A simple relation is suggested to
estimate the resulting average diameter of the droplets as a
function of the nozzle diameter and the most-unstable
dimensionless wave number corresponding to the maximum
growth rate. The present theoretical model is validated by
comparing the theoretical results with the experimental
measurements for a set of selected nozzles at different
operating conditions. Phase Doppler Particle Analyzer
(PDPA) is used for measuring both the size of droplets n
water sprays with a measuring point located near enough to
the nozzle tip in order to capture the initially formed
droplets just after the atomization. The performed
comparison showed a good agreement between the
theoretically predicted volume mean diameter of spray
droplets and the corresponding experimental measurements.

The difficulties in specifying the drop size distribution in

sprays have led to widespread use of various mean or
median diameters. Therefore, instead of the complete
drop size distribution, it is convenient in many
calculations of flow processes and mass transfer to work
only with mean or average drop diameters. In some
instances, it may also be advantageous to introduce the
minimum and the maximum drop sizes formed in a spray,
where they are of paramount importance. It is important
therefore to decide which measure is the most suitable to
be selected for a particular application to emphasize some
important characteristics.
The various mean diameters may be determined from
cumulative distribution curves or from prediction
equations that have been derived from theory or
experiment. Based on the maximum instability theory,
developed by Rayleigh [2] for inviscid liquid jets in a
vacuum, one can obtain a relationship between the droplet
diameter d and the undisturbed jet diameter dj: d=1.89dj.
Close results to the predictions of Rayleighs
mathematical analysis have been obtained experimentally
by Tyler [3], who concluded that the breakup of
cylindrical liquid jets discharging into a gas occurs under
the conditions required for the maximum instability. An
extension to Rayleighs analysis has been developed by
Weber [4] to include the disintegration of viscous liquid
jets at low velocities with the assumption of rotationally
symmetrical oscillations of the jet. However, in many
liquid-in-gas systems, droplet size is strongly influenced
by the properties of the jet, the ambient conditions, and

Keywords Atomization process, breakup model, droplet

diameter, instability analysis, spray experiments.

I. INTRODUCTION

HE atomization and breakup of liquid jet injected

into another immiscible fluid is wide ranging and
important in several industrial and engineering
applications. However, the complete process of spraying
from the initial release of the liquid to the final dispersion
of the drops is a complicated multi-parameter two-phase
problem which resists clear understanding.

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ISSN 2165-8277 (Print) ISSN 2165-8285 (Online)
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October 2013

the relative air velocity; thus, the previous analyses are

not appropriate for atomization regime, where the average
drop diameter is much less than the jet diameter.

perturbations are much smaller than the jet radius, the so

called dispersion relation can be derived, that relates the
growth rate to the wave number k [5]:

More recently, a more general theory for liquid jet

disintegration was developed by Reitz [5]. This so-called
wave-breakup model (also referred to as KelvinHelmholtz breakup model) is widely applied in primary
as well as in secondary breakup models. Analogous to the
previous models, the gas phase is assumed to behave as
an inviscid fluid, i.e. there is free slip at the liquid-gas
interface. Moreover, the model contains a breakup time
constant, which has to be chosen appropriately. There is
considerable uncertainty about the value of this constant.
In the literature values ranging from 1.73 up to 30 have
been used, therefore, it was pointed out that, this constant
may need to be adjusted to the different initial disturbance
levels of the droplet [6, 7].

2 + 2 l k 2

I 1 (kr )

2kl I 1 (kr ) I 1' (lr )

=
k 2 + l 2 I o (kr ) I 1 (lr )

I o (kr )
l 2 k 2 I 1 (kr )
k
+
(1 k 2 r 2 ).( 2
)
2
l + k 2 I o (kr )
l r

g
l

(U

(1)

i 2 2 l 2 k 2 I 1 (kr ) K o (kr )
) k ( 2
)
k
l + k 2 I o (kr ) K 1 (kr )

In the above equation, In and Kn are the nth order modified

Bessel function of the first and second kind, respectively.
The prime indicates differentiation, l is the liquid
kinematic viscosity, U is the jet velocity, is the surface
tension and l2=k2 +/l. Even though the disturbances of
different wavelengths will superpose each other in the
breakup process of the liquid jet, it is assumed that only
the fasting growing disturbance, indicated by growth rate
max that corresponds to the most-unstable wavelength,
identified as mu will ultimately lead to breakup.

The atomization regime is the most important for high

pressure injectors. However, detailed experimental
assessment of the primary spray breakup directly at the
nozzle is extremely difficult because the spray is very
dense and almost opaque at this position [8]. At the same
time spray phenomena are very complex because the
liquid droplets interact in multiple ways with the
turbulent gas phase. Therefore, numerical simulations
represent a powerful tool that can provide valuable
insight into spray processes and the complex interacting
sub-processes involved. Thus, if validated for a certain
range of boundary conditions, spray models can
effectively be utilize to interpret available experimental
data, and also to execute pre-calculations for altered
operating conditions.

In general, this model gives an indication about the

relation between the growth rate of the initial disturbance
as a function of its wavelength and the fluid properties.
Concerning the driving mechanism of the liquid jet
instability, one can distinguish by means of the
wavelength of the initial disturbance. The appearance of
the short wavelengths is related to the interaction with the
aerodynamic forces, whereas large wavelengths dominate
the instability mechanism in the absent of the
aerodynamic effects. Then the limiting case of interest for
jet atomization is the case of short wavelengths waves
since the droplet size is much smaller than the jet
diameter. By replacing the Bessel function in the model
equation by their asymptotic values for kr yields the
following equation:

3
2
( + 2 l k 2 ) 2 + f
k 4 l k 3 k 2 +
+
l
l
(2)

The present paper is undertaken to develop a theoretical

model following the instability analysis of Reitz [5] to
predict the uniform droplets diameter of sprays produced
by the atomization of cylindrical liquid jets. The
theoretical results are validated by comparing them with
both measured data and the manufactured available data
for different types of the nozzles considered.

II. THEORETICAL MODELING

g
l

( + iUk ) 2 = 0

In order to take account of the gas viscosity, Sterling and

Sleicher [9] have suggested that the disturbance gas
pressure must be reduced by a reduction factor 1 >
0, whereby =1 corresponds to viscousless gas phase. In
other words, the gas density in Eq. (2) is multiplied by the
reduction factor , where its value is related to the flow
characteristics, e.g. for turbulent flow velocity profile
according to the 1/7 power law, the reduction factor can
be assumed =0.8 [10]. In our analysis we assume that
the gas viscosity is neglected, and therefore, =1.

In this section, the modified form of the wave-breakup

model developed by Reitz [5] is summarized. The
analysis starts out from a cylindrical liquid jet of radius r
issues through a circular nozzle into an incompressible
gas environment. A number of infinitesimal perturbations
with an initial amplitude of and a spectrum of
wavelength , typically expressed through the wave
number k=2/, are formed at the gas-liquid interface by
the primary shear instability. The amplitude of the initial
disturbance will be increased exponentially by the liquidgas interaction with a complex growth rate of = r +i
i. This so-called Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities start to
grow on the jet surface, such that the small droplets are
sheared off the liquid surface. By assuming that the

For the atomization regime, which is of interest in the

present work, the breakup is characterized by the
formation of drops significantly smaller than the jet

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October 2013

TABLE I
REFERENCE VALUES Of LIQUID JET PARAMETERS.

diameter and formed near the nozzle exit plane where the
jet disrupts completely. The model presented here
assumes that a spectrum of uniform drop size is obtained
during the atomization process, i.e. all drops have been
disrupted into smaller drops with an equal diameter.
When this stage is reached the drop is stable and no
further breakup can occur. In this case, the breakup was
driven by the aerodynamic force since surface tension
serves as a stabilizing force. In other words, the
aerodynamic force in this stage is large compared with
the surface tension force. This considerations lead to the
concept of neglecting the effect of the surface tension
force in the model equation, Eq.(2). In order to match this
condition, the second term in Eq.(2) is multiplied by a
factor f having a very small value of the order of 10-5.
This small value insures that the surface tension effects
are diminished. Note that in case of f=1 and =1, the
model equation is reduced to wave-breakup model [5].

Symbole
U

g
f

vf
ro

PARAMETER

Value/Units

Relative Velocity
Gas Density
Liquid Density
Surface tension
Liquid kinematic
viscosity
Jet radius
Growth rate
Wavelength

100 m/s
1.2 kg/m3
1000 kg/m3
0.07 N/m
1.3x10-6 m2/s
1 mm
s-1
m

III. MEAN DROPLET DIAMETER MODEL

In order to estimate the mean droplet diameter formed by
breakup of a cylindrical liquid jet, it is assumed that the
resulting droplet diameter is proportional to nmu , where

Using representative values of fluid properties, the above

model equation, Eq.(2), is solved for the growth rate
by a numerical computer program. The maximum value
of the growth rate max is found by searching it over the
possible values of different wavelength. Consequently,
the corresponding most-unstable wavelength mu is
determined, which is then used to calculate the uniform
droplet diameter as follows next.

0<n1 is an exponent determined according to breakup

regime considered (i.e. n=1 for Rayleigh breakup).
Mathematically, this implies that:

d m = nmu

(3)

where is a coefficient determined from a volume

balance of the jet fluid exiting the nozzle and depends
mainly on the issuing nozzle diameter do.

The numerical solution of Eq.(2) with reference values,

shown in Table 1, of properties can give an indication
about the effects of the relative velocity, gas density,
surface tension and the liquid viscosity on the jet
instability, namely on the growth rate of the initial
disturbance, as can be seen in Fig. 1.

In our analysis, it is assumed that N spherical droplets

with an equal mean diameter dm are produced over time
interval t. Considering that the total volume of the jet
issues from the nozzle over a specified period of time
with an average velocity uav is equal to the total volume
of the discrete droplets formed during the breakup, i.e.,

d m3
6

N=

d o2
4

u av t

(4)

The breakup of a liquid jet into small droplets is solely

controlled by the most-unstable disturbance wave at the
early and the later stages of the jet instability. It is
assumed that each most-unstable disturbance wave
produces a single droplet. This assumption gives a direct
relation between the droplet diameter formed in spray and
the wavelength of the most-unstable disturbance waves
on the jet surface rather than the initial disturbance
wavelength used in the linear theory formulation [5]. The
most-unstable disturbance wave is a function of the
continuous phase and the dispersed phase characteristics
as well as the nozzle dimensions. Hence, from the above
assumption it can be assumed that:
N

u av t = i = N mu

(5)

Fig. 1. The effect of spray parameters on the disturbance growth rate

(a) relative velocity, (b) gas density, (c) surface tension, (d) liquid
kinematic viscosity

Using this relation in Eq.(4), one can obtain an expression

for the mean droplet diameter;

d m = (1.5d o2 mu )1 / 3

43

(6)

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V. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE THEORETICAL

MODEL

or in other form,

1.5

dm = do (

mu

)1 / 3

(7)

The data predicted by the theoretical MDD model

developed in the previous sections is further evaluated by
comparing it to a group of the available data of different
types of single-hole spray nozzles with different
diameters and operating conditions as described next. In
order to calculate the volume mean diameter of the
droplets generated by a nozzle of diameter do, a simple
correlation has been used by the research team [11] after
consulting the manufacturers. This correlation has been
suggested in practice and extensively used for firefighting
sprinklers, as follows:

where mu is the dimensionless wave number (mu =

2ro/mu) associated to the most-unstable wavelength.
This simple equation provides an expression for the
volume mean diameter of droplet in terms of the mostunstable wavelength, which in turn, can be obtained from
the instability analysis described previously.
IV. EXPERIMENTS
In present work, series of experiments were conducted in
order to validate the results of proposed theoretical
model. The apparatus, shown in Fig.1, consists mainly
from water supply system ended with nozzle. The nozzle
is mounted on 2D traverse mechanism to facilitate the
scanning process inside spray field. Optical measuring
instrument is employed in present work to provide nonphysical probe inside the spray zone, which prevent any
deformation in spray configuration. Forward scattering
technique is used in present experimental work to obtain
high signal quality and to increase the sampling rate. The
measuring device depends on PDP/A technique, which
ensures fast response and accurate data acquisition,
beside its capability to measure droplets size distribution
and their velocities simultaneously. The light source
comes from He/Ne Laser tube with 0.5 mW power. The
nozzle design is also illustrated in Fig. 2, which is a
pressure atomizer type. Different nozzle diameters with
the same design were tested in present work. As PDP/A
measures the local droplet size distribution, the mean
droplets diameter across each cross section height is
obtained as follows.

dm =

1
ntot

October 2013

ni di

d m = ad o3 / 2 / p 1 / 3

(8)

where p is the jet upstream pressure in bar, and a=

8.7066932 if p in bar and d in m. The flow rate is
calculated for all nozzles according to the experimental
relation:

Q = 17.76 p

(9)

where Q in lit/hr and p in bar.

Using the following reference physical properties of the
working fluids (water and air); w=1000 kg/m3, g=1.0
kg/m3, and =1.3e-6 m2/s, a numerical solution of the
model equation, Eq.(2), is performed obtaining the mostunstable wavelength mu that corresponds to the
maximum growth rate max. A sample of the instability
curves for Monarch 15.5 nozzle type can be seen in Fig.
4. The predictions of droplet size obtained using MDD
model are compared with those calculated from the
correlation, Eq.(8). The percentage error is also
calculated. The nozzles types and its dimensions are
tabulated in Table 2 with the associated comparison of the
predicted droplet size.

(8)

where ntot is the total number of droplets produced over i

sections. Three different nozzle diameters are used in the
experimental measurement; do= 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 mm. The
mean drop diameter is measured over a wide range of
nozzle flow rates which is controlled by means of a
controlling valve and measured through an orifice meter.
The change in the flow rate results in a corresponding
change in the injection pressure that can be measured by
means of a pressure gauge. Figure 3 shows comparisons
of the mean droplet diameters measured experimentally
and those predicted using the MDD model at different
injection pressures. It can be seen that there is a good
agreement between the predicted theoretical values of the
mean droplet diameters and the measured ones, especially
for small jet diameter. That demonstrates the accurate
predictions of the mean droplet diameter using the
proposed MDD model.

The results indicate good agreement between the droplet

diameters predicted by using MDD model and those
calculated using the correlation Eq.(8). The maximum
error is about 3.4% which lies in the range of the error
resulting from any experimental measurements. The
largest differences in predicted and calculated values
occur in nozzles with large diameters. These differences
may reflect a significant orifice effect which is not
considered in the instability analysis based on infinitely
long, cylindrical liquid jet. However, the MDD model is
sensitive to the increase in the upstream pressure from 7
to 10 bar yielding a significantly decrease in the predicted
droplet diameter.

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October 2013

Fig. 2. Experimental apparatus and nozzle geometry

Fig. 3. Comparison of the measured and calculated mean droplet

diameter for different injection pressure and different nozzle diameter

Fig. 4. Sample of the instability curve for Monarch 15.5 nozzle type at
an injection pressure of 7 bar.

TABLE 2
COMPARISON OF THE PREDICTED UNIFORM DIAMETER USING MDD MODEL AND THE CORRELATION EQUATION (EQ.8) FOR DIFFERENT: NOZZLES TYPES,
DIMENSIONS AND OPERATING CONDITIONS

Nozzle type
Monarch 15.5

Monarch 19.5
Spray Sys. Co.
TG-SS-1
Spray Sys. Co.
TG-SS-3
Spray Sys. Co.
TG-SS-5

P (bar) do (mm)
7
10
7
10
7
10
7
10
7
10

1.627
1.627
1.927
1.927
0.935
0.935
1.619
1.619
1.963
1.963

Q
(lit/hr)

46.98
56.16
46.98
56.16
46.98
56.16
46.98
56.16
46.98
56.16

uav
(m/s)
6.28
7.5
4.47
5.34
19.0
22.7
6.74
7.57
4.31
5.15

45

dm(m)
Eq.8
298.73
265.24
385.05

dm(m)
MDD
293.01
273.07
381.9

error
%

341.85

353.68

-3.4

130.14

127.6

1.9

-5.95

115.54

113.73

1.5

-5.2

296.49

291.6

1.6

-2.5

log mu
-5.2
-5.29
-5.0
-5.1
-5.8

1.9
-2.9
0.81

-5.3

263.26

270.1

-4.95

395.85

401.76

-1.4

-5.1

351.47

358.07

-1.8

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VI. CONCLUSION

October 2013

Authors Profiles

Based on the instability analysis of a cylindrical liquid jet,

a theoretical model for predicting the volume mean of
uniform droplets formed during the atomization process is
developed. The so called MDD model presented here is
based on the modification of the wave-breakup model by
considering the criterion concerning the drop formation.
The proposed model is validated by comparing the
theoretical results obtained with the experimental
measurements using Phase Doppler Particle analyzer.
Another validation is performed by considering a
correlation equation for predicting the volume mean
diameters produced from different types of nozzles under
different operating conditions. The validation of the
theoretical results obtained indicates that the developed
model is capable to predict accurately the volume mean
diameter of droplets formed during the breakup of water
sprays under different operating conditions.

Ashraf Balabel was born in Minoufiya,

Egypt. He received the B.Sc. (the firstclass, Excellent with Honors Degree), and
M.Sc. degrees in Mechanical Power
Engineering from Faculty of Engineering,
Minoufiya University, Shebin El-Kom,
Egypt, Ph.D. degree in Mechanical
Engineering, from RWTH-Aachen University, Germany,
in 1988, 1995, and 2002, respectively. In 1990, he
became a Demonstrator at Minoufiya University, and
then was an Assistant Lecturer in 1995. In 2002 was a
Lecturer, in 2008 he became an Associate Professor in the
same faculty and university. In 2013 he became a
Professor in the same faculty and university till now. He
employed as Professor in the Mechanical Engineering
Department, Faculty of Engineering at Taif University,
KSA till now. His research interests include ThermoFluid Dynamics, CFD, Two-Phase flow, Turbulence
Modelling, Droplet Dynamics, Level Set Method, and
Renewable Energy.

REFERENCES
[1]

A. H. Lefebvre, Atomization and Sprays, Hemisphere Publishing

Corporation, 1989.
[2] L. Rayleigh, On the Instability of Jets, Lond. Math. Soc. Proc., vol.
10, pp. 4-18, 1878.
[3] E. Tyler, Instability of Liquid Jets, Phil. Mag., vol. 16, pp.504-518,
1931.
[4] C. Weber, zum Zerfall eines Flssigkeitsstrahles, Z. Angew. Math.
vol.11 (2), pp. 136-159, 1931.
[5] R. D. Reitz and F. V. Bracco, Mechanism of Atomization of a
Liquid Jet, Phys. Fluids, 25(10), 1982.
[6] P. J. ORourke, A. A. Amsden, The TAB Method for Numerical
Calculation of Spray Droplet Breakup, SAE Paper 872089, (1987).
[7] M. A. Patterson, R. D. Reitz, Modeling the Effects of Fuel Spray
Characteristics on Diesel Engine Combustion and Emission. SAE
Paper 980131, 1998.
[8] G. Stiesch, Modeling Engine Spray and Combustion Processes,
Springer-Verlage, Berlin, 2003.
[9] A. M. Sterling and C. A. Sleicher, The Instability of Capillary Jets,
J. Fluid Mech., vol. 68, pp.477-495, 1975.
[10] H. Schlichting, Grenzschicht Theorie, G. Braun Verlag, Karlsruhe,
8. Aufl. pp.463-481, 1982.
[11] M. Alhazmy, A. Kinsara and G. Zaki, A Study of Multi-Jet Water
Sprays to improve Climate Conditions during Hajj, Report AT-2038, KACST, Riyadh, 2004.

Safwat A. Wilson was born in Tanta,

Egypt. He received the B.Sc (1978)., M.Sc.
(1983) and Ph.D. (1991) in mechanical
power engineering from Faculty of
Engineering,
Minoufiya
University,
Shebin El-Kom, Egypt. In 1978 he became
a Demonstrator at Minoufiya University. In 1983 He
became an Assistant lecture and then Lecturer in 1991.
He became Associate professor in 2007 in the same
department and faculty. His research interests include
Thermofluid dynamics, CFD, Heat transfer, Atomization
and spray and combustion. He is a member of ILASS
Egypt.

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