In the spray combustion process, the distribution of droplet size and velocity will affect the atomization performance of the fuel and the combustion effect. Compared with binary equal-sized droplet collisions, binary unequal-sized droplet collisions are more in line with the actual situation. In this paper, a numerical investigation of binary unequal-sized droplet collision has been performed under different high Weber numbers (from 210 to 810) and impact parameters (B ≈ 0.3–0.9) by a coupled level-set and volume of fluid method with adaptive mesh refinement technology. Unlike the coalescence and separation phenomena at low and medium Weber numbers, at high Weber numbers, due to the difference in velocity between large and small droplets, the rim expands radially outward in different ways and further breaks up. The splashing behavior of the droplets can also be observed. As the Weber number increases, the breakup moment of the droplets advances and the maximum radial deformation diameter increases first (We = 210–360) and then decreases (We = 360–810). By changing the impact parameters, it can be found that binary off-center collisions are associated with rotational motion. At larger impact parameters, the features of the capillary wave instability can be observed on the surface of the ligament.

The dynamic behavior of droplets impacting cylindrical superhydrophobic surfaces with different structures (azimuthal groove, axial groove, pillar) is studied in this work. The rebound and splash thresholds with different structures were also proposed, which depended on D/D₀ (where D is the ratio of cylinder diameter and D₀ is the initial droplet diameter) and the surface structure of the substrate. Based on the energy conservation approach, a complete rebound threshold semi-empirical model is constructed for cylindrical superhydrophobic surfaces. The recovery coefficient is used to measure the energy loss during the droplet impacting the superhydrophobic cylindrical surface. At the same time, the energy loss was significant on the cylindrical superhydrophobic surface with different structures, and the surface structure of the substrate played a vital role in the energy loss of the collision process. Then a prediction formula for the maximum spread diameter on the cylindrical superhydrophobic surface with different structures is presented to understand the droplet collision behavior further. In addition, a level wing-like splash morphology could reduce contact time on grooved superhydrophobic surfaces. Based on the contact time as a function of the Weber number, the azimuthal grooved structure surface has the least contact time.

In pneumatic atomizers, the shaping air holes play an important role in the spraying system. The pressure and intersection of shaping air holes are the two most important parameters in engineering. In this paper, the Euler–Lagrangian method is used to describe the two-phase spray flow. The spraying process of the pneumatic nozzle is simulated numerically, and the experiment is designed to verify this simulation. By setting different air pressures and distances between the intersection and the paint hole, target surface pressure and droplet size distribution are investigated in detail, in order to explore the relationship between shaping air holes in pneumatic nozzles and overspray. From the results of the numerical simulation, it is found that an increase in the distance between the intersection and the paint hole increases the gas velocity at the central axis of the nozzle and the central pressure of the target surface, the droplet size becomes larger, and the distribution of droplets is more concentrated on the target surface, which easily leads to overspray. With the increase in the pressure of the shaping air holes, the central pressure of the target surface decreases, and the ovality of the spraying pattern on the target surface increases.

Atomization spray of non-Newtonian liquid plays a pivotal role in various engineering applications, especially for the energy utilization. To operate spray systems efficiently and well understand the effects of liquid rheological properties on the whole spray process, a comprehensive model using Euler-Lagrangian approaches was established to simulate the evolution of the atomization spray for viscoelastic liquid. Based on the Oldroyd model, the viscoelastic linear dispersion relation was introduced into the primary atomization; an extended viscoelastic version of Taylor analogy breakup (TAB) model was proposed; and the coalescence criteria was modified by rheological parameters, such as the relaxation time, the retardation time and the zero shear viscosity. The predicted results are validated with experimental data varying air-liquid mass flow ratio (ALR). Then, numerical calculations are conducted to investigate the characteristics of viscoelastic liquid atomization process. Results showed that the evolutionary trend of droplet mean diameter, Weber number and Ohnesorge number of viscoelastic liquids along with axial direction were qualitatively similar to that of Newtonian liquid. However, the mean size of polymer solution increased more gently than that of water at the downstream of the spray, which was beneficial to stable control of the desirable size in the applications. As concerned the effects of liquid physical properties, the surface tension played an important role in the primary atomization, which indicated the benefit of selecting the solvents with lower surface tension for finer atomization effects, while, for the evolution of atomization spray, larger relaxation time and zero shear viscosity increased droplet Sauter mean diameter (SMD) significantly. The zero shear viscosity was effective throughout the jet region, while the effect of relaxation time became weaken at the downstream of the spray field.

Binary droplet collisions are a key mechanism in powder coatings production, as well as in spray combustion, ink-jet printing, and other spray processes. The collision behavior of the droplets using Newtonian and polymer liquids is studied numerically by the coupled level-set and volume of fluid (CLSVOF) method and adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). The deformation process, the internal flow fields, and the energy evolution of the droplets are discussed in detail. For binary polymer droplet collisions, compared with the Newtonian liquid, the maximum deformation is promoted. Due to the increased viscous dissipation, the colliding droplets coalesce more slowly. The stagnant flow region in the velocity field increases and the flow re-direction phenomenon is suppressed, so the polymer droplets coalesce permanently. As the surface tension of the polymer droplets decreases, the kinetic and the dissipated energy increases. The maximum deformation is promoted, and the coalescence speed of the droplets slows down. During the collision process, the dominant pressure inside the polymer droplets varies from positive pressure to negative pressure and then to positive pressure. At low surface tension, due to the non-synchronization in the movement of the interface front, the pressure is not smooth and distributes asymmetrically near the center of the droplets.

The deformation and breakup of a polymer solution droplet plays a key role in inkjet printing technology, tablet-coating process, and other spray processes. In this study, the bag breakup behavior of the polymer droplet is investigated numerically. The simple coupled level set and volume of fluid (S-CLSVOF) method and the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique are employed in the droplet breakup cases at different Weber numbers and Ohnesorge numbers. The nature of the polymer solution is handled using Herschel–Bulkley constitutive equations to describe the shear-thinning behavior. Breakup processes, external flow fields, deformation characteristics, energy evolutions, and drag coefficients are analyzed in detail. For the bag breakup of polymer droplets, the liquid bag will form an obvious reticular structure, which is very different from the breakup of a Newtonian fluid. It is found that when the aerodynamic force is dominant, the increase of the droplet viscous force will prolong the breakup time, but has little effect on the final kinetic energy of the droplet. Moreover, considering the large deformation of the droplet in the gas flow, a new formula with the cross-diameter (D_cro) is introduced to modify the droplet drag coefficient.