Numerical analysis on the disintegration of gas-liquid interface in two-phase shear-layer flows

The gas-liquid two-phase interfacial flow widely occurs in atomization or liquid film cooling in the field of aerospace engineering. In this paper, the gas-liquid two-phase shear layer is simulated using volume of fraction method by numerical solver Gerris. Both the two-phase interface morphology and growth of the shear layer show a good agreement with previous experimental observation. The disintegration mechanism of the gas-liquid interface is revealed from the simulation results, which is mainly due to the initial perturbation developing in the gas stream. Different disintegration patterns are discovered, which are wavy disintegration, roller type disintegration and breakdown of ligaments under different velocity ratios and density ratios. The shear layer thickness grows faster under higher pressure conditions, which indicates that the interface disintegration is more violent under higher pressure conditions. Increasing the density ratio will lead to higher frequency of the fundamental wave, which determines the first deformation and further breaking-down of gas-liquid interface close to the entrance of the flow. (C) 2020 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.