Studying the effect of swirl ratio on air-blast atomization in a canonical two-fluid atomizer

Sprays are ubiquitous in engineering applications ranging from medical coatings to fuel sprays. Air-blast atomization is a process whereby a high-speed gas destabilizes a low-speed liquid leading to a series of instabilities which subsequently forms a spray. In this study, we present simulations of air-blast atomization in a canonical two-fluid atomizer at a fixed liquid and gas Reynolds number and varying swirl ratio. Simulations are performed using a conservative finite volume flow solver with phase tracking handled using an un-split, geometric volume of fluid method. We validate our simulations by comparing velocity and volume fraction statistics to experiments. We then extract detailed measurements such as droplet distribution and break-up length, highlighting the effect of swirl ratio on spray characteristics.