The stability characteristics of an ultra-thin layer of a viscous liquid flowing down a cylindrical fibre are investigated by a linear theory. The film with the thickness less than 100 nm is driven by an external force and under the influence of the van der Waals forces. The results show that, when the relative film thickness decreases, the curvature of the fibre depresses the development of the linear perturbations, whereas the van der Waals forces promote the instabilities. This competition results in a non-monotonous dependence of the growth rate on the relative film thickness. The critical curves are also obtained to describe the transition from the absolute instability to the convective instability, indicating that the van der Waals forces can enlarge the absolutely unstable region. Furthermore, the surface tension can cause the development of the absolute instability, whereas the external force has an opposite effect.
The ultra-sonic gas atomization （USGA） nozzle is an important apparatus in the metal liquid air-blast atomization process. It can generate oscillating supersonic gas effiux, which is proved to be effective to enforce the atomization and produce narrow-band particle distributions. A double-actuator ultra-sonic gas nozzle is proposed in the present paper by joining up two active signals at the ends of the resonance tubes. Numerical sim- ulations axe adopted to study the effects of the flow development on the acoustic resonant properties inside the Haxtmann resonance cavity with/without actuators. Comparisons show that the strength and the onset process of oscillation are enhanced remarkably with the actuators. The multiple oscillating amplitude peaks are found on the response curves, and two kinds of typical behaviors, i.e., the Hartmann mode and the global mode, are discussed for the corresponding frequencies. The results for two driving actuators are also investigated. When the amplitudes, the frequencies, or the phase difference of the input signals of the actuators are changed, the oscillating amplitudes of gas effiux can be altered effectively.
The resonant behaviors of an ultra-sonic gas atomization nozzle with a zero mass-flux jet actuator were numerically investigated with FLUENT software by using a double precision unsteady two-dimensional pressure-based solver. The Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model was adopted in the simulations. Numerical results indicated that the oscillation properties of the gas efflux were effectively improved. Several resonatory frequencies corresponding to different vibration modes of gas were distinguished in the nozzle. With the changing of nozzle geometric parameters, different characters among those modes were elucidated by analyzing the propagations of pressure waves.
