Superheated Water Atomization: Some New Aspects of Control and Determining Disperse Characteristics of Atomization Plume in Micron and Submicron Ranges of Droplet Size^*

New experimental data on superheated water atomization is presented. It is shown that in contrast to the case of short cylindrical nozzles, which provide bimodal water-droplet sprays, the application of divergent nozzles makes it possible to obtain one-modal water atomization with droplets of about micron diameter being obtained. This fact is due to changes in the mechanism of superheated water jet fragmentation and it is very important for engineering applications. A modified experimental technique for processing integral monochromatic scattering indicatrix was developed and tested. In addition, a new calculation code was worked out for calculating atomized water drop-size distribution (on the basis of Mi theory) in micron and submicron ranges. (paper)