Mixing and Atomization in Multiphase Flows with Insights from Linear Stability

Vinod Srinivasan, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota

The control of mixing processes in shear flows is of interest in a variety of industrial applications, such as thermal plasma torches, infra-red signatures of aircraft, combustion and environmental remediation. IN the case of mutlphase flows, these processes require intensive simulation. However, many shear flows have been shown to be controllable using aspects of linear stability theory, by relying on the idea that the nonlinear breakdown of the flow can be traced back to the linear origins of specific instabilities. Suppression or enhancement of these instabilities in the linear regime may offer significant performance benefits. This talk presents a few instances where experimental studies have been combined with insights from linear stability theory to suppress or produce high rates of mixing/atomization. The cases considered are the low-density jet issuing into a high-density ambient, simulating a DC plasma arc, and the atomization of high viscosity fluids representative of biomass-derived fuels.