%0 Journal Article %A Bacharoudis, Evangelos %A Bratec, Herve %A Keirsbulck, Laurent %A Buchlin, Jean-Marie %A Labraga, Larbi %D 2013 %I Begell House %K critical conditions, PLIF measurements, film characteristics, viscosity effects, surface tension effects, model comparison %N 9 %P 763-797 %R 10.1615/AtomizSpr.2013006811 %T ONSET OF ATOMIZATION ON HORIZONTAL, SHEAR-DRIVEN LIQUID FILMS AT THE VICINITY OF A SHARP CORNER %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/6a7c7e10642258cc,4262ab2d5588383e,4d06af40375092d4.html %V 23 %X In many engineering applications, the liquid films have to deal with sudden changes of the wall geometries in which they flow over. The present work concerns the study of the onset of the film atomization in corner geometries. Specifically, films with thickness in the range of 1 mm < hf < 2.5 mm and dimensionless scale parameters in the range of 2 < ε · Ref < 24, able to expand in a spanwise direction without side restrictions, are developed on a horizontal plate. The films approach a sharp corner of 90° at the end of the plate under the shearing action of an external airflow. The air velocity and the liquid flow rate in which the film atomization at the corner edge initiates are detected experimentally. The behavior of the mean film and its waves at the corner are studied under those conditions. Both the viscosity and the surface tension are varied to investigate the effect of the liquid properties on the onset of the film atomization. The experimental data obtained here are compared extensively with the atomization models found in the open literature. The comparison shows that the existing models are not able to predict the onset of atomization for the films of the current work. That happens mainly because the interfacial waves have been totally neglected from the models. Further theoretical development is required to successfully predict the initiation of the droplet generation in corner geometries. %8 2013-10-14