Recess Effects on Spray Characteristics of Swirl Coaxial Injectors

Recess is a geometrical configuration shape that the exit surface of an inner injector is located at a certain length inward from that of an outer injector. It is known to have the characteristics that it can augment mixing efficiency and flame stabilization through internal mixing of propellant in it. So, various experiments, such as backlit stroboscopic photography, phase Doppler particle analyzer(PDPA) and mechanical patternator, were performed at several recess lengths to grasp its effect on the spray characteristics of spray angle, breakup length, atomization and' mixing. Recess length was normalized to dimensionless recess number and two principal mechanisms of impingement and swirl recovery were introduced to explain its influence on the spray characteristics. The effect of recess on SMD doesn't appear significantly near the recess number where mixing efficiency attains to the maximum, whereas mass distribution and mixing efficiency are changed considerably. Thus, it can be inferred that a certain optimum recess number exists, where mixing efficiency becomes the maximum.