%0 Journal Article %A Ibrahim, E. A. %A Sree, D. %A McKinney, T. R. %D 2007 %I Begell House %N 3 %P 224-243 %R 10.1615/InterJFluidMechRes.v34.i3.30 %T A Nonlinear Model for the Atomization of Attenuating Liquid Sheets %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/71cb29ca5b40f8f8,7646d83d07bfe37d,49694cfb68f8511a.html %V 34 %X The problem of predicting the characteristics of the spray produced by the disintegration of an attenuating liquid sheet emanated into a surrounding gas is considered. A second-order nonlinear perturbation analysis is employed to investigate the evolution of the instability waves that lead to sheet breakup. The sheet breakup length, thickness, and time as well as size of drops formed upon sheet fragmentation are estimated. It is found that the breakup length, breakup time, and drop size decrease as the Weber number is increased. The breakup thickness increases by raising the Weber number. An initial disturbance of larger amplitude induces faster sheet atomization and larger drops. A higher gas-to-liquid density ratio causes a shorter sheet breakup (intact) length and reduced resultant drop size associated with larger dominant wave numbers. The present theoretical predictions are compared to experimental data, and empirical correlations and favorable agreement is observed. %8 2007-06-06