On the atomization of liquids by high-velocity gases

A mathematical model of the gas atomization of a liquid is developed. This model, in which the liquid is allowed to have infinite depth, takes into account both the compressibility of the gas and the viscosity of the liquid, enabling a prediction to be made of the expected drop size in the spray formed when a gas flows over a liquid. It gives good results for the air atomization of water and an order-of-magnitude agreement for that of molten metals. A universal curve is constructed for molten metals such that the predicted size of the most frequently occurring drop size can be found by evaluating a single formula. The effect of allowing the liquid to have finite depth is investigated in two cases of interest.