The effect of laser-induced breakdown on particle dispersion

Being able to modify particle or droplet dispersion can have a significant impact for various industrial applications, such as electrostatic precipitators or combustor fuels sprays. Although it is feasible to control global particle distributions by changing overall flow conditions, it is challenging to locally control particle distributions. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of utilizing laser-induced breakdown (LIB) for controlling local particle distributions. LIB initially creates a shockwave, and subsequently induces a hot-gas vortex at the laser focal point. A particle cavity (i.e. void region) is created by the shockwave, and it evolves over time due to the hot-gas vortex, in three temporal phases. We have conducted experiments for three different cases of breakdown energy, and analyzed the area and lifespan of the cavity. It is shown that LIB can be utilized as a fast and non-intrusive technique to control local particle dispersion.