CFD Modeling of Spray Atomization for a Nasal Spray Device

The purpose of this work is to evaluate numerical modeling techniques for simulation of spray atomization from a nasal spray device to complement experimental measurements previously. In the past, spray breakup models have not been applied to nasal spray applications, but rather for high-pressure applications such as combustion, and industry and agricultural spraying. The parameters in breakup model were not optimized for this kind of low-pressure injection with small-scale atomizer. Thus, there is a need to tune the spray model constants of the linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) model and evaluate its performance for low-pressure applications such as those found in nasal spray devices. Some parameters that were evaluated include the dispersion angle and the liquid sheet constant that influences the droplet size distribution and dispersion. The simulation results were evaluated against experimental data that has been previously performed. It was found that the LISA model provided good comparisons when a dispersion angle of 3 degrees and a liquid sheet constant of 1 were used. In addition, three scenarios were investigated: (i) influence of fluid-droplet coupling; (ii) increase in mass flow rate; and (iii) changing the orientation from downward spray to upward spray.