Time-resolved proper orthogonal decomposition of liquid jet dynamics

New insight into the mechanism of liquid jet in crossflow atomization is provided by an analysis technique based on proper orthogonal decomposition and spectral analysis. Data are provided in the form of high-speed videos of the jet near field from experiments over a broad range of injection conditions. For each condition, proper orthogonal modes (POMs) are generated and ordered by intensity variation relative to the time average. The feasibility of jet dynamics reduction by of the POM series to the first few modes is then examined as a function of crossflow velocity for laminar and turbulent liquid injection. At conditions where the jet breaks up into large chunks of liquid, the Superposition of specific orthogonal modes is observed to track long waves traveling along the liquid column. The temporal coefficients of these modes can be described as a bandpass spectrum that shifts toward higher frequencies as the crossflow velocity is increased. The dynamic correlation of these modes is quantified by their cross-power spectrum density. Based on the frequency and wavelength extracted from the videos. the observed traveling waves are linked to the linearly fastest growing wave of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The gas boundary layer thickness at the gas-liquid shear layer emerges at the end of this study as the dominant length scale of jet dynamics at moderate Weber numbers. (C) 2009 American Institute of Physic's. [doi.10.1063/1.3263165]