Single drop turbulent breakup in the anisotropic turbulence inside a high-pressure homogenizer scale-up model

• Turbulent drop breakup in a homogenizer model was studied numerically. • A local Weber number was unable to deterministically predict breakup. • Deformation is described through the local fields of dissipation rate of TKE. • Number of fragments seems to be linked to turbulent interaction in the final stage. The focus of this study is the direct interactions of the local turbulent fields and single drops inside the anisotropic turbulent field of a high-pressure homogenizer valve scale-up model. A volume of fluid scheme is incorporated into a direct numerical simulation approach to study the deformation and breakup of drops. The numerical framework was validated by experiments in a previous study. Therefore, a vast amount of information about the local turbulent properties of the flow e.g., the dissipation rate of the turbulent kinetic energy, Weber number, etc., is now available and is investigated in relation to the breakup of the drops. The results show that the deformation of the drops could be described through the local fields of the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy. Furthermore, the possibility of deterministically predicting the breakup events through a locally defined Weber number is investigated.