%0 Journal Article %A Kushari, Abhijit %A Barman, P. %D 2008 %I Begell House %N 4 %P 354-364 %R 10.1615/InterJFluidMechRes.v35.i4.50 %T Primary Liquid Breakup in a Pressure-Swirl Atomizer %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/71cb29ca5b40f8f8,3d3c27496800a50f,7606d2b928b7d02a.html %V 35 %X In the present study, an attempt has been made to investigate the primary at-omization process of a simplex pressure-swirl atomizer and the effect of various forces on conical liquid sheet disintegration. This paper describes the effect of liquid flow Reynolds number on the liquid jet breakup length and the spray cone angle. This study also examines qualitatively the effect of destructive and consolidating forces on the liquid sheet break up and concludes that the ratio of kinetic energy causing spray breakup and consolidating energy plays a critical role in the transformation of the tulip shaped liquid bulb at low Reynolds number into a fully developed hollow cone spray structure at high Reynolds number. With the increase in the kinetic energy, i. e., the inertial forces, the consolidating influence becomes weaker and weaker causing early breakup of the jet. %8 2008-11-24