Despite dozens of tests, aeronautical engineer Rene Nardi only managed once, in this photo, to record the full range of behavior of the liquid that emerges from a cyclone injection system. Often used in rockets and other jet-propelled vehicles, the liquid spins inside a chamber and is then released through a hole, forming a hollow cone. The more the cone expands, the thinner the liquid sheet becomes, until it breaks apart and winds up as a cloud of droplets. It is the quick evaporation of these droplets that enables combustion. Nardi perfected a calculation model that accounts for parameters such as spray angle (measured in photographs) to characterize the functioning of this injection system and ensure its performance.
Photo submitted by Rene Nardi, a doctoral candidate at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) advised by Amilcar Porto Pimenta
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