SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Droplet size”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 91 records · Page 5

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1987

Particle trajectory computer program for icing analysis of axisymmetric bodies - A progress report

Aircraft exposed to an atmospheric icing environment can accumulate ice, resulting in a sharp increase in drag, a reduction in lift, control surface fouling, and engine damage all of which result in a hazardous flight situation. NASA Lewis Research Center (LeRC) has conducted a program to examine, with the aid of high-speed computer codes, how the trajectories of particles contribute to the ice accumulation on airfoils and engine inlets. For this effort, a computer code was developed to calculate icing particle trajectories and impingement limits for axisymmetric inlets. The original research-oriented NASA code was upgraded and modified to meet the requirements of the design engineer. The improved code is capable of performing trajectory calculations for any atmospheric conditions and droplet sizes. It can handle single droplets or a distribution of various droplet sizes. The four programs that comprise the code are described and the results of a test case using flight conditions for a Fokker F100 icing tunnel test are presented.

Maltezos, Dimitrios G.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Charge-induced secondary atomization in diffusion flames of electrostatic sprays

The combustion of electrostatic sprays of heptane in laminar counterflow diffusion flames was experimentally studied by measuring droplet size and velocity distributions, as well as the gas-phase temperature. A detailed examination of the evolution of droplet size distribution as droplets approach the flame shows that, if substantial evaporation occurs before droplets interact with the flame, an initially monodisperse size distribution becomes bimodal. A secondary sharp peak in the size histogram develops in correspondence of diameters about one order of magnitude smaller than the mean. No evaporation mechanism can account for the development of such bimodality, that can be explained only in terms of a disintegration of droplets into finer fragments of size much smaller than that of the parent. Other evidence in support of this interpretation is offered by the measurements of droplet size-velocity correlation and velocity component distributions, showing that, as a consequence of the ejection process, the droplets responsible for the secondary peak have velocities uncorrelated with the mean flow. The fission is induced by the electric charge. When a droplet evaporates, in fact, the electric charge density on the droplet surface increases while the droplet shrinks, until the so-called Rayleigh limit is reached at which point the repulsion of electric charges overcomes the surface tension cohesive force, ultimately leading to a disintegraton into finer fragments. We report on the first observation of such fissions in combustion environments. If, on the other hand, insufficient evaporation has occurred before droplets enter the high temperature region, there appears to be no significant evidence of bimodality in their size distribution. In this case, in fact, the concentration of flame chemi-ions or, in the case of positively charged droplets, electrons may be sufficient for them to neutralize the charge on the droplets and to prevent disruption.

Gomez, Alessandro↗

NASA NTRS2008

CFD Modeling of Superheated Fuel Sprays

An understanding of fuel atomization and vaporization behavior at superheat conditions is identified to be a topic of importance in the design of modern supersonic engines. As a part of the NASA aeronautics initiative, we have undertaken an assessment study to establish baseline accuracy of existing CFD models used in the evaluation of a ashing jet. In a first attempt towards attaining this goal, we have incorporated an existing superheat vaporization model into our spray solution procedure but made some improvements to combine the existing models valid at superheated conditions with the models valid at stable (non-superheat) evaporating conditions. Also, the paper reports some validation results based on the experimental data obtained from the literature for a superheated spray generated by the sudden release of pressurized R134A from a cylindrical nozzle. The predicted profiles for both gas and droplet velocities show a reasonable agreement with the measured data and exhibit a self-similar pattern similar to the correlation reported in the literature. Because of the uncertainty involved in the specification of the initial conditions, we have investigated the effect of initial droplet size distribution on the validation results. The predicted results were found to be sensitive to the initial conditions used for the droplet size specification. However, it was shown that decent droplet size comparisons could be achieved with properly selected initial conditions, For the case considered, it is reasonable to assume that the present vaporization models are capable of providing a reasonable qualitative description for the two-phase jet characteristics generated by a ashing jet. However, there remains some uncertainty with regard to the specification of certain initial spray conditions and there is a need for experimental data on separate gas and liquid temperatures in order to validate the vaporization models based on the Adachi correlation for a liquid involving R134A.

Raju, M. S.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Secondary atomization in the combustion of electrostatic sprays

The combustion of electrosprays in a laminar counterflow diffusion flame has been experimentally studied by measuring droplet size and velocity distributions and gas-phase temperature. Detailed examination of the evolution of droplet size distribution as droplets approach the flame shows that, if substantial evaporation occurs before droplets 'interact' with the flame, the size distribution becomes bimodal. A secondary, sharp peak, in fact, develops in correspondence of diameters about one order of magnitude smaller than the mean. No evaporation mechanism can account for the development of such bimodality, that can be explained only in terms of a disintegration of droplets into finer fragments of size much smaller than the parent ones. This fission is of electric nature and it occurs when the repulsion of electric charges overcomes the surface tension cohesive force ultimately leading to a disintegration into finer fragments at or about the so-called Rayleigh limit. We here report on the first observation in combustion environments of such 'explosions'. If, on the other hand, droplets enter the very high temperature region before exploding, there appears to be no evidence of bimodality in their size distribution. In this case, in fact, flame chemi-ions may neutralize the charge on the droplets and thus prevent disruption.

Gomez, Alessandro↗

NASA NTRS2015

Liquid Water Cloud Properties During the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX)

We present retrievals of water cloud properties from the measurements made by the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) during the Polarimeter Definition Experiment (PODEX) held between January 14 and February 6, 2013. The RSP was onboard the high-altitude NASA ER-2 aircraft based at NASA Dryden Aircraft Operation Facility in Palmdale, California. The retrieved cloud characteristics include cloud optical thickness, effective radius and variance of cloud droplet size distribution derived using a parameter-fitting technique, as well as the complete droplet size distribution function obtained by means of Rainbow Fourier Transform. Multi-modal size distributions are decomposed into several modes and the respective effective radii and variances are computed. The methodology used to produce the retrieval dataset is illustrated on the examples of a marine stratocumulus deck off California coast and stratus/fog over California's Central Valley. In the latter case the observed bimodal droplet size distributions were attributed to two-layer cloud structure. All retrieval data are available online from NASA GISS website.

Electromagnetic scattering↗

NASA NTRS2006

What does reflection from cloud sides tell us about vertical distribution of cloud droplets?

In order to accurately measure the interaction of clouds with aerosols, we have to resolve the vertical distribution of cloud droplet sizes and determine the temperature of glaciation for clean and polluted clouds. Knowledge of the droplet vertical profile is also essential for understanding precipitation. So far, all existing satellites either measure cloud microphysics only at cloud top (e.g., MODIS) or give a vertical profile of precipitation sized droplets (e.g., Cloudsat). What if one measures cloud microphysical properties in the vertical by retrieving them from the solar and infrared radiation reflected or emitted from cloud sides? This was the idea behind CLAIM-3D (A 3D - cloud aerosol interaction mission) recently proposed by NASA GSFC. This presentation will focus on the interpretation of the radiation reflected from cloud sides. In contrast to plane-parallel approximation, a conventional approach to all current operational retrievals, 3D radiative transfer will be used for interpreting the observed reflectances. As a proof of concept, we will show a few examples of radiation reflected from cloud fields generated by a simple stochastic cloud model with prescribed microphysics. Instead of fixed values of the retrieved effective radii, the probability density functions of droplet size distributions will serve as possible retrievals.

Marshak, A.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Antimisting fuel breakup and flammability

The breakup behavior and flammability of antimisting turbine fuels subjected to aerodynamic shear are investigated. Fuels tested were Jet A containing 0.3% FM-9 polymer at various levels of degradation ranging from virgin AMK to neat Jet A. The misting behavior of the fuels was quantified by droplet size distribution measurements. A technique based on high resolution laser photography and digital image processing of photographic records for rapid determination of droplet size distribution was developed. The flammability of flowing droplet-air mixtures was quantified by direct measurements of temperature rise in a flame established in the wake of a continuous ignition source. The temperature rise measurements were correlated with droplet size measurements. The flame anchoring phenomenon associated with the breakup of a liquid fuel in the wake of bluff body was shown to be important in the context of a survivable crash scenario. A pass/fail criterion for flammability testing of antimisting fuels, based on this flame-anchoring phenomenon, was proposed. The role of various ignition sources and their intensity in ignition and post-ignition behavior of antimisting fuels was also investigated.

Parikh, P.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Towards a Marine Stratus Climatology on Drizzle Occurrence from CALIPSO

Marine stratus are a predominant feature of our planet with the annual mean coverage exceeding 20%. They strongly reflect sunlight, yet exert only a modest effect on outgoing infrared radiation, providing a significant net cooling to the Earth’s radiative balance. Their formation is coupled to boundary layer circulations that are driven, in part, by cloud top radiative cooling and evaporative cooling from precipitation in downdrafts. Understanding how these cloud systems evolve as the climate changes is a key question that requires additional information on their lifecycle and microphysical properties to accurately represent their behavior in global circulation models. From a large-scale perspective, insight into the microphysical properties of marine stratus at cloud top can be realized through estimates of the effective radius (Re) of the droplet size distributions derived from MODIS observations. Estimates on the occurrence of rain/drizzle are available from CloudSat. Together these observations indicate that precipitation frequently occurs in clouds with higher cloud top Re. This relationship is consistent with the well documented shift in cloud top droplet size distributions towards fewer, yet larger droplets prior the onset of precipitation. Here we report on a new and complementary set observations from the CALIPSO mission. The approach derives an extinction-to-backscatter ratio (Sc, also known as the cloud lidar ratio) using an established relationship that depends on observations of the lidar attenuated backscatter and volume depolarization ratio within the cloud. Because Sc is strongly and inversely related to Re, a change in the derived Sc from higher to lower values corresponds to a change in the droplet size distribution as seen by MODIS. This change in the lidar signals at cloud top clearly identifies clouds that are capable of precipitation. The presentation provides a brief overview of the approach for deriving Sc and compares CALIOP-derived Sc with observations from other techniques. CALIOP classifications of drizzling clouds, based on the retrieved values Sc, are compared to independent, collocated assessments of drizzle occurrence reported in the standard CloudSat data products. Regional and seasonal comparisons highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the two sensors. A machine learning approach that combines information from both CALIOP and CloudSat showcases possible improvements in the global identification of scenes likely to contain rain-bearing clouds.

CALIPSO↗

NASA NTRS2008

Modeling the Impact of Drizzle and 3D Cloud Structure on Remote Sensing of Effective Radius

Remote sensing of cloud particle size with passive sensors like MODIS is an important tool for cloud microphysical studies. As a measure of the radiatively relevant droplet size, effective radius can be retrieved with different combinations of visible through shortwave infrared channels. MODIS observations sometimes show significantly larger effective radii in marine boundary layer cloud fields derived from the 1.6 and 2.1 pm channel observations than for 3.7 pm retrievals. Possible explanations range from 3D radiative transport effects and sub-pixel cloud inhomogeneity to the impact of drizzle formation on the droplet distribution. To investigate the potential influence of these factors, we use LES boundary layer cloud simulations in combination with 3D Monte Carlo simulations of MODIS observations. LES simulations of warm cloud spectral microphysics for cases of marine stratus and broken stratocumulus, each for two different values of cloud condensation nuclei density, produce cloud structures comprising droplet size distributions with and without drizzle size drops. In this study, synthetic MODIS observations generated from 3D radiative transport simulations that consider the full droplet size distribution will be generated for each scene. The operational MODIS effective radius retrievals will then be applied to the simulated reflectances and the results compared with the LES microphysics.

Platnick, Steven↗

NASA NTRS2004

An Examination of the Impact of Drizzle Drops on Satellite-Retrieved Effective Particle Sizes

In general, cloud effective droplet radii are remotely sensed in the near-infrared using the assumption of a monomodal droplet size distribution. It has been observed in many instances, especially in relatively pristine marine environments, that cloud effective droplet radii derived from satellite data often exceed 15 m or more. Comparisons of remotely sensed and in situ retrievals indicate that the former often overestimates the latter in clouds with drizzle-size droplets. To gain a better understanding of this discrepancy, this paper performs a theoretical and empirical evaluation of the impact of drizzle drops on the derived effective radius.

Minnis, Patrick↗

NASA NTRS1990

A Planar-Fluorescence Imaging Technique for Studying Droplet-Turbulence Interactions in Vaporizing Sprays

Droplet turbulence interactions directly affect the vaporization and dispersion of droplets in liquid sprays and therefore play a major role in fuel oxidizer mixing in liquid fueled combustion systems. Proper characterization of droplet turbulence interactions in vaporizing sprays require measurement of droplet size velocity and size temperature correlations. A planar, fluorescence imaging technique is described which is being developed for simultaneously measuring the size, velocity, and temperature of individual droplets in vaporizing sprays. Preliminary droplet size velocity correlation measurements made with this technique are presented. These measurements are also compared to and show very good agreement with measurements made in the same spray using a phase Doppler particle analyzer.

Santavicca, Dom A.↗

NASA NTRS2011

Simultaneous Retrieval of Aerosol and Cloud Properties During the MILAGRO Field Campaign

Estimation of Direct Climate Forcing (DCF) due to aerosols in cloudy areas has historically been a difficult task, mainly because of a lack of appropriate measurements. Recently, passive remote sensing instruments have been developed that have the potential to retrieve both cloud and aerosol properties using polarimetric, multiple view angle, and multi spectral observations, and therefore determine DCF from aerosols above clouds. One such instrument is the Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP), an airborne prototype of a sensor on the NASA Glory satellite, which unfortunately failed to reach orbit during its launch in March of 2011. In the spring of 2006, the RSP was deployed on an aircraft based in Veracruz, Mexico, as part of the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) field campaign. On 13 March, the RSP over flew an aerosol layer lofted above a low altitude marine stratocumulus cloud close to shore in the Gulf of Mexico. We investigate the feasibility of retrieving aerosol properties over clouds using these data. Our approach is to first determine cloud droplet size distribution using the angular location of the cloud bow and other features in the polarized reflectance. The selected cloud was then used in a multiple scattering radiative transfer model optimization to determine the aerosol optical properties and fine tune the cloud size distribution. In this scene, we were able to retrieve aerosol optical depth, the fine mode aerosol size distribution parameters and the cloud droplet size distribution parameters to a degree of accuracy required for climate modeling. This required assumptions about the aerosol vertical distribution and the optical properties of the coarse aerosol size mode. A sensitivity study was also performed to place this study in the context of future systematic scanning polarimeter observations, which found that the aerosol complex refractive index can also be observed accurately if the aerosol optical depth is larger than roughly 0.8 at a wavelength of (0.555 m).

Knobelspiesse, K.↗

NASA NTRS2012

On-Line, Real-Time Diagnostics of a Single Fluid Atomization System

A drop tube-Impulse Atomization technique was used to produce copper droplets. In this method, energy is transferred to a liquid by plunger movement resulting in spherical droplets emanating from orifices. A mathematical model of the evolution of droplet velocity and temperature at various heights for different sized droplets was developed. A two-color pyrometer, DPV-2000, and a shadowgraph were used to measure droplets radiant energy, diameter and velocity. The temperature values from the model were used to assess the two color pyrometer assumption over the temperature range of measurement. The DVP 2000 measurements were found to be dependent of droplet size wavelength and position of droplets below the atomizing nozzle. By calibrating the instrument for effective emissivity over the range of measurements, the thermal history of droplets may be recorded using a single color pyrometer approach.

DelshadKhatibi, P.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Satellite-based Assessment of Global Warm Cloud Properties Associated with Aerosols, Atmospheric Stability, and Diurnal Cycle

This study examines variability in marine low cloud properties derived from semi-global observations by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, as linked to the aerosol index (AI) and lower-tropospheric stability (LTS). AI is derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Terra MODIS) sensor and the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transportation (GOCART) model, and is used to represent column-integrated aerosol concentrations. LTS is derived from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, and represents the background thermodynamic environment in which the clouds form. Global statistics reveal that cloud droplet size tends to be smallest in polluted (high-AI) and strong inversion (high-LTS) environments. Statistical quantification shows that cloud droplet size is better correlated with AI than it is with LTS. Simultaneously, the cloud liquid water path (CLWP) tends to decrease as AI increases. This correlation does not support the hypothesis or assumption that constant or increased CLWP is associated with high aerosol concentrations. Global variability in corrected cloud albedo (CCA), the product of cloud optical depth and cloud fraction, is very well explained by LTS, while both AI and LTS are needed to explain local variability in CCA. Most of the local correlations between AI and cloud properties are similar to the results from the global statistics, while weak anomalous aerosol-cloud correlations appear locally in the regions where simultaneous high (low) AI and low (high) LTS compensate each other. Daytime diurnal cycles explain additional variability in cloud properties. CCA has the largest diurnal cycle in high-LTS regions. Cloud droplet size and CLWP have weak diurnal cycles that differ between clean and polluted environments. The combined results suggest that investigations of marine low cloud radiative forcing and its relationship to hypothesized aerosol indirect effects must consider the combined effects of aerosols, thermodynamics, and the diurnal cycle.

Matsui, Toshihisa↗

NASA NTRS1989

NOx formation from the combustion of monodisperse n-heptane sprays doped with fuel-nitrogen additives

A series of experiments with simulated synthetic fuels were conducted in order to investigate the effect of droplet size on the conversion of fuel-nitrogen to NOx. Pyridine and pyrrole were added to n-heptane as nitrogen-containing additives and burned as monodisperse fuel droplets under various operating conditions in a spray combustion facility. The experimental results indicate that under stoichiometric and fuel-rich conditions, reducing the droplet size increases the efficiency of fuel-N conversion to NOx. This observation is associated with improved oxidation of the pyrolysis fragments of the additive by better oxygen penetration through the droplet flame zone. The dominant reactions by which fuel-N is transformed to NOx were also considered analytically by a premixed laminar flame code. The calculations are compared to the small droplet size results.

Sarv, Hamid↗

NASA NTRS1986

Liquid droplet radiator thermal characteristics

The effects of droplet size, emissivity, and spacing on the liquid droplet radiator (LDR) performance space heat rejection system are investigated. The procedures for predicting surface emissivity of semitransparent droplets as a function of absorptivity and radius are examined. The relation between absorptivity, reflectivity, transmissivity, and emissivity is studied. It is observed that for droplets in the 25-200 micron range the radius affects emissivity. The thermal performance of an array of droplet streams is described using a thermal radiation model. Droplet temperatures are calculated; it is shown that outside droplet streams are more effective than interior droplets for arrays in the range of radius to spacing ratio from 0.05-0.2. Temperature distributions as a function of droplet size, emissivity, and velocity are presented. The heat transfer performance of a LDR is evaluated in terms of fin effectiveness. The equivalent sheet emissivities of droplet streams are examined.

Edgerton, R. H.↗

NASA NTRS1970

Controlled droplet spray generator

Spray generator produces streams of uniform-size droplets issuing at uniform rate by applying an oscillatory disturbance to free liquid jets. Jets of varying diameters can be grouped together and oscillated as a group to produce simultaneous streams of uniform-size droplets.

Nicholls, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Atomization data requirements for rocket combustor modeling

The complex computer codes, which model liquid rocket combustors, require information about the distribution and atomization of these liquid reactants. The available information is, in general, of questionable validity and applicability. Authors and users of combustion codes are often unaware of, or underestimate the importance of, these deficiencies in atomization data. These deficiencies and their importance are examined. Results of analyses performed with a state-of-the-art rocket combustion code are presented which demonstrate the important effects of such atomization information as initial droplet sizes and size distribution on vaporization rate and losses. Also, the questionable aspects and inapplicability of the available atomization data are discussed. One important and often neglected or misunderstood aspect of atomization data is the differences between spatial (concentration) and flux (often called temporal) droplet size distributions. These are described, and a computer model constructed to assess the difference between concentration and flux droplet size distributions is described and results presented. Experimental data are also given to demonstrate this difference. Finally, experimental results are presented that demonstrate the very great, and often neglected effect, of the local gas velocity field on atomization.

Ferrenberg, A. J.↗