The Effect of Ambient Pressure Oscillations on the Disintegration and Dispersion of a Liquid Jet

T h e effect of a m b i e n t p r e s su re osc i l la t ions on t h e d i s in t e g r a t i o n a n d dispersion of a l iqu id j e t was inves t iga ted by i m pos ing a h i g h i n t e n s i t y a c o u s t i c field o n t h e j e t . T h e effect of a local ized s o u n d source , d i rec ted p e r p e n d i c u l a r t o t h e s t r e a m , was t o d isperse t h e d rop le t s i n a diverging s i n u soidal conf igura t ion, a n d t h e effect of a n axial cavity reso n a n c e d i rec ted para l le l t o t h e s t r e a m was t o coalesce t h e d rop le t s as a r e s u l t of t h e velocity var ia t ion of successive fluid pa r t i c l e s . E a c h of t h e s e effects was ana lyzed t h e o re t ica l ly , a n d i t was found t h a t t h e m a g n i t u d e of each effect decreased w i t h a n increase e i t he r in t h e velocity of t h e s t r e a m or i n t h e f requency of t h e imposed osc i l la t ion . T h e analys is of t h e d rop le t coalescence, w h i c h occurred for t h e case of axial cavity r e s o n a n c e , led t o a possible c r i t e r ion for c o m b u s t i o n s tab i l i ty .