A Note on Photographic Observation of Liquid Atomization Process

Liquid atomization is a process of breaking down a mass of liquid into a group of many fine droplets, spray. The liquid atomization technology is used in a wide range of industrial fields, e.g. air-fuel mixture generation in internal-combustion engines, pesticide spraying, spray painting, powdered-food production, and solid-particle production from molten materials. As with other gas-liquid two-phase flows, the photographic observation is effective in the research on liquid atomization and in the development of related equipments, because a variety of information can be obtained from the images. In this article, the liquid atomization is outlined and the fundamentals of photographic observation of the atomization process and spray flow are presented. Several examples photographic observations are also presented.