Shock waves in sprays: numerical study of secondary atomization and experimental comparison

Numerical modeling of the interaction between a cloud of water droplets and a planar shock wave is compared with experimental data. The mathematical model relies on an Eulerian description of the dispersed phase with the assumption of dilute flows. It is shown that the secondary atomization of the droplets strongly influences the structure of both the shock wave and the induced flow. After shock loading, the individual liquid components generate daughter droplets, and the overall interphase surface per unit volume undergoes strong variations which modify the pressure relaxation process towards a dynamic and thermal equilibrium state. The experimental data enable one to determine the best analytical formulation of the droplet number production rate. Models of droplet number production rate are compared in order to highlight this feature. The model based on the assumption of linear variation of droplet diameter with time gives the best agreement between the numerical results and the experimental data.