Experimental investigation of the aerodynamic breakup of liquid drops

An experimental investigation was made of the deformation and the mechanism of stripping-type breakup of liquid drops. Experiments were conducted in a 60 X 150 mm cross-sectional shock tube equipped with pulsed laser holographic interferometry. Water drops having diameters of 1030 and 4300 fim were examined for shock wave Mach numbers from 1.3 to 1.5 in atmospheric air. The Weber and Reynolds numbers under these conditions were in the range of 600 to 7600 and 1.38 to 10.4 x 10, respectively. In previous works, the experimental data of the stripping-type breakup were obtained by spark shadowgraphs and streak schlieren methods and high-speed movies. However, in previous works, due to the effect of light scattering through the micromist, the structure of disintegrating drops could not be visualized. The purpose of the present work is, by using holographic interferometry, to re-examine the classical problem of the stripping-type breakup of liquid drops. As a result, a four-stage mechanism of the stripping-type breakup of liquid drops was established.