A Morphological Technique for Direct Drop Size Measurement of Cryogenic Sprays

Abstract

A Morphological technique for quantifying cryogenic sprays directly from their images, has been developed. The technique has been validated with results from the laser diffraction particle analyzer for water sprays and has been shown to be effective even for dense water sprays. Morphological operations have been explained through a lucid physical analogy for the opening operation. An image of an actual cryogenic spray has been chosen to illustrate these concepts in a concrete fashion. Influence of pressure drop on the drop size distribution of an LN2 spray, has been studied using this morphological method. This obviates the need for using simulants and extrapolation techniques. An important inference from the drop size distributions, is that evaporation effects become significant as soon as the jet leaves the injector.