The deformation of laminar liquid jets in gaseous crossflow before the onset of primary breakup is studied motivated by its application to fuel injection in jet afterburners and agricultural sprays, among others. Three crossflow Weber numbers that represent three different liquid jet breakup regimes; column, bag, and shear breakup regimes, were studied at large liquid/gas density ratios and small Ohnesorge numbers. In each case the liquid jet was simulated from the jet exit and ended before the location where the experimental data indicated the onset of breakup. The results show that in column and bag breakup, the reduced pressures along the sides of the jet cause the liquid to move to the sides of the jet and enhance the jet deformation. In shear breakup, the flattened upwind surface pushes the liquid towards the two sides of the jet and causing the gaseous crossflow to separate near the edges of the liquid jet thus preventing further deformation before the onset of breakup. It was also found out that in shear breakup regime, the liquid phase velocity inside the liquid jet was large enough to cause onset of ligament formation along the jet side, which was not the case in the column and bag breakup regimes. In bag breakup, downwind surface waves were observed to grow along the sides of the liquid jet triggered a complimentary experimental study that confirmed the existence of those waves for the first time.
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