Development of Flow Visualization Measurement Method of Droplet Train Obliquely Impinging on Moving Hot Solid

Abstract

Spray cooling on moving hot solids is widely used in metal heat treatment processes. Understanding coolant droplet collision behavior with moving hot solids is of great importance toward improving heat treatment temperature control technology. Via flash photography, we experimentally investigated the hydrodynamics of droplet train obliquely impinging on a hot moving solid. The test piece was a rectangular steel piece (SUS303) heated to 500°C, 550°C, or 600°C with a moving velocity of 0.5 m/s, 1.0 m/s, or 1.5 m/s. The test liquid was water at approximately 20°C. The pre-impact diameter of droplets, droplet impact velocity, and inter-spacing between every successive two droplets were 0.64 mm, 2.2 m/s, and 1.91 mm, respectively. The tilt angle of the droplet train to the vertical was 50°. No coalescence of droplets was seen—the droplets deformed independently on the moving solid. The measured results of the maximum diameter and the residence time of the droplets agreed well with the empirical formulas that can be used for droplet impact on a stationary solid. It was found that the dynamics of a droplet train impinging on a hot moving solid are the same as the dynamics of a droplet train impinging on a hot stationary solid when the droplets deform independently on a moving solid. Taking advantage of said property such that it is equivalent to the dynamics of a droplet train impinging on a hot stationary solid, we proposed a critical condition for droplet coalescence and experimentally confirmed the validity of the critical condition.