Break-up of a non-Newtonian jet injected downwards in a Newtonian liquid

The present work on downward injection of non-Newtonian jet is an extension of our recent work (Lakdawala et al, Int. J. Multiphase Flow. 59: 206–220, 2014) on upward injection of Newtonian jet. The non-Newtonian rheology of the jet is described by a Carreau type generalized Newtonian fluid (GNF) model, which is a phenomenological constitutive equation that accounts for both rate-thinning and rate-thickening. Level set method based numerical study is done for Newtonian as well as various types of shear thinning and thickening jet fluid. Effect of average injection velocity (Vav, i) is studied at a constant Reynolds number Re = 14.15, Weber number We = 1, Froude number Fr = 0.25, density ratio χ = 0.001 and viscosity ratio η = 0.01. CFD analysis of the temporal variation of interface and jet length (Lj) is done to propose different types of jet breakup regimes. At smaller, intermediate and larger values of Vav, i, the regimes found are periodic uniform drop (P-UD), quasi-periodic non-uniform drop (QP-NUD) and no breakup (NB) regimes for a shear thinning jet; and periodic along with Satellite Drop (P +S), jetting (J) and no breakup (NB) regimes for a shear thickening jet, respectively. This is presented as a drop-formation regime map. Shear thickening (thinning) is shown to produce long (short) jet length. Diameter of the primary drop increases and its frequency of release decreases, due to increase in stability of the jet for shear thickening as compared to thinning fluid.