On the nonlinear stability of a swirling liquid jet

The nonlinear deformation and atomization of a rotating column is considered using an axisymmetric boundary element formulation. Swirl has been considered by superposing a potential vortex to the bulk flow of the jet. The resulting model has been shown to reproduce the classical linear result due to Ponstein and parametric studies are conducted in the nonlinear regime to determine wave shapes and droplet sizes. As with prior nonlinear column breakup studies, results indicate that satellite drops are formed from the main wave under virtually all conditions. The ratio of the main drop to satellite drop diameter is shown to be remarkably constant over a variety of wave numbers/column lengths thereby providing a potential approach to produce tightly controlled bimodal sprays.