Premium
Use of the Maximum Entropy Formalism to Determine Drop Size Distribution Characteristics
Author(s) -
Dumouchel Christophe,
Boyaval Stéphane
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
particle and particle systems characterization
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.877
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1521-4117
pISSN - 0934-0866
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1521-4117(199908)16:4<177::aid-ppsc177>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - formalism (music) , drop (telecommunication) , entropy (arrow of time) , statistical physics , mathematics , principle of maximum entropy , physics , thermodynamics , statistics , computer science , art , musical , telecommunications , visual arts
The work reported in this paper is an extension of a previous study on the prediction of volume‐based drop size distribution from the application of the maximum entropy formalism (M.E.F.). The procedure developed in that study led to the derivation of a two‐parameter distribution. The present work investigated the problem of the determination of the two parameters ( q and D q0 ), i.e. the determination of the information required in the procedure. It was found that the relative span factor Δ v and the mean drop diameter D 43 of the measured distribution constitute reliable information from which q and D q0 can be calculated. It is shown that the distributions calculated in this way generally show a better fit than distributions obtained from different information or from an extended set of constraints. This work therefore illustrates the importance of the nature of the information to be introduced in the application of the M.E.F. Furthermore, it shows how the M.E.F. can be used to determine relevant spray drop size characteristics and the extent to which this formalism could provide relevant information to study and characterize atomization processes.