ELECTROSTATIC FUEL ATOMIZATION AND SPRAY DISPERSAL DEMONSTRATION

ELECTROSTATIC ATOMIZATION PROVIDES A NUMBER OF ADVANTAGES FOR CONTROLLING COMBUSTION THAT ARE NOT AVAILABLE FROM THE CONVENTIONAL, NON-CHRAGED SPRAY SYSTEMS NOW IN USE. CHARGED SPRAYS ARE VIGOROUSLY SELF-DISPERSING, PROVIDE UNIFORM PATTERNATION AND HAVE NARROW SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS. THESE SPRAYS CAN BE GENERATED BY COMPACT DEVICES AT HIGH FLOW RATES WITH LOW INPUT POWER AT MODEST APPLIED VOLTAGES, AND ARE INHERENTLY INSENSITIVE TO FLUID PROPERTIES AND FLOW RATE. HOWEVER, NO PLUME PATTERNATION DATA ARE AVAILABLE. A SIX MONTH EFFORT IS PROPOSED TO OBTAIN QUANTITATIVE PATTERNATION AND DROPLET SIZE DISTRIBUTION DATA FOR CHARGED PLUMES. A LASER DOPPLER VELOCIMETER WILL BE USED TO OBTAIN DROPLET VELOCITY AND SIZE DATA TO TEST THE VALIDITY OF PLUME PATTERNATION MODESL. THIS WORK WILL PROVIDE BASELINE INFORMATION NECESSARY FOR THE EVALUATION OF THIS TECHNOLOGY FOR GAS TURBINE ENGINE USE AND FOR THE DESIGN OF THE HIGH FLOW RATE CHARGE INJECTION NOZZLES THAT WILL BE USED FOR THE ENGINE APPLICATIONS OF ULTIMATE INTEREST.