SCALING LAWS FOR PARTICLE BREAKUP IN NOZZLE GENERATED SHOCKS

Conditions for the onset of particle breakup in normal shock waves have been investigated. A normalized particle drag behind the shock has been determined in terms of gas stagnation conditions and particle diameter for a range of gas Mach numbers 1 ≤ M₁ ≤ 5 by introducing appropriately defined particle Knudsen and Reynolds numbers into analytical expressions for the drag coefficient. Numerical computations of the particle drag, normalized with gas stagnation pressure and particle area, indicate a peak at a gas Mach number M₁ ? 2.2, The magnitude of the peak was found to decrease with increasing particle diameter and reservoir gas density.

Criteria for the onset of agglomerate breakup were defined in terms of a modified Weber number for the adhesion mechanisms due to Van der Waals forces, electrostatic attraction and adsorbed surface films. These results indicate that larger more closely packed agglomerates made up of smaller constituent particles have a greater tendency to resist breakup for a given set of stagnation conditions and shock Mach number.