Characterization of the Flow (Breakup) Regimes in a Twin-Fluid Atomizer based on Nozzle Vibrations and Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

In the study, a new non-intrusive approach based on acoustic chemometrics, which includes vibration signal collection using glued-on accelerometers, was assessed for the classification of the different flow (breakup) regimes spanning a whole range of fluids (water and air) flow rates in this twin-fluid atomizer (one-analyte system). This study aims to determine the flow regimes based on the dimensionless number (B), whose unique values correspond to different flow (breakup) regimes. The principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to visually classify the breakup regimes through cluster formation using score plots. The model prediction performance was studied using PLS-R, RMSEP values show error ranges within acceptable limit when tested on independent data. The present acoustic study can serve as a good alternative to the imaging methods employed for flow classification.