
Comparison of Numerical Model Results with Experimental Data of Gas-Focused Liquid Sheets
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This study provides a comparative analysis of numerical simulations with experimental measurements of a non-linear coupled problem, associated with gas-focused liquid sheets, commonly referred to as flat jets. The liquid sheet structure, characterized by a series of orthogonal sheets known as the liquid chain, is generated using a gas-accelerated nozzle. In this configuration, helium gas flows through two oblique capillaries to impinge on a central liquid jet of water, forming the sheet. Numerical simulations were conducted using ANSYS Fluent, based on Finite Volume Method (FVM). The pressure-based compressible solver is coupled with the Piecewise Line Interface Construction Volume of Fluid (PLIC-VOF) technique to accurately capture the gas-liquid interface. To reduce computational expense, only one-quarter of the fluid domain is modelled, leveraging the symmetry of the nozzle geometry. The simulations address unsteady, laminar, compressible, thermal, Newtonian two-phase flow. Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR), based on the volume fraction gradient, is used to achieve high-resolution interface tracking while maintaining efficient computational cost. A combination of helium Reynolds number 95, water Reynolds number 330, and Weber number 51 is evaluated. Images and videos of the primary sheet were captured using a CMOS camera, and measurements of the sheet's width and length were subsequently performed using the ImageJ software. The comparison revealed that numerical predictions reasonably matched the corresponding experimental results of sheet width and length. The findings serve as a foundation for further refinement of numerical simulations in the atmosphere and vacuum and for optimizing gas-focused liquid sheet nozzles.