Characteristics of Vaporizing Cryogenic Sprays for Rocket Combustion Modeling

Experimental measurements of the volume-median drop diameter, Dv.5e, of vaporizing cryogenic sprays were obtained with a drop size measuring instrument developed at NASA Lewis Research Center. To demonstrate the effect of atomizing-gas properties on characteristic drop size, a two-fluid fuel nozzle was used to break up liquid-nitrogen, LN2, jets in high-velocity gasflows of helium argon and gaseous nitrogen, GN2. Also, in order to determine the effect of atomizing-gas temperature on specific surface-areas of LN2 sprays, drop size measurements were made at gas temperatures of 111 and 293 K.