Spray cooling is a topic of current interest for its ability to uniformly remove high levels of waste heat for densely packed microelectronics. A Monte-Carlo (MC) spray cooling simulation model is under development that is based on empirical data to be a cost effective design tool that will predict accurate heat fluxes based on nozzle conditions and heater geometry. This work reports spray and single drop experiments with the goal of computing the volume beneath a drop impact cavity (sub-cavity volume) created by a single impinging droplet on an initial liquid layer. A relevant test plan for the single drop experiments in terms of We and Re numbers was created through utilization of Phase Doppler Anemometry to characterize a water spray generated by a nozzle of interest for varying flow conditions. Liquid thickness profiles of the sub-cavity formed by a single impinging drop onto a range of initial liquid film thicknesses were measured versus time via a non-contact optical thickness sensor. Time dependent sub-cavity volumes were computed by integrating these sub-cavity liquid film thickness profiles measured radially outward from the impact centerline. It is found that higher We and lower h 0 * result in a more radially uniform sub-cavity surface contour versus time, except for regions near the outer bottom cavity radius, where the liquid film was thinner. The sub-cavity volume was found to be nearly constant for a majority of the cavity lifetime and increased with We and h 0 * . These results will be incorporated in future work into the MC model to improve its predictive capability. Nomenclatured = Drop diameter Greek Letters D = Arithmetic mean droplet diameter ρ = Density D 32 = Sauter mean droplet diameter η = Index of refraction Fr = Froude number = μ = Dynamic viscosity h = Liquid film thickness σ = Surface tension R = Radial location τ = Dimensionless time (t•V axial /d) Re = Reynolds number = Superscripts T = Temperature * = Dimensionless parameter t = Time Subscripts V = Arithmetic mean velocity 0 = Initial condition Vol = Sub-cavity volume axial = Axial velocity component We = Weber number = c = Cavity z = Axial standoff distance from the nozzle tip r = Radial velocity component s = Spray

Spray cooling is a crucial method for meeting today's thermal management challenges in many areas including space applications, high speed computers, microelectronic components and other high energy density devices. The extreme complexity of the flow created by the impact of millions of droplets per second creates a need for a heat transfer model which incorporates enough physical detail to yield accurate predictions while being sufficiently simplified to use in routine design computations. The spray cooling group at West Virginia University (WVU) is pursuing a coordinated program of computational simulations and laboratory experiments to develop a Monte Carlo-based spray cooling model that will satisfy this requirement. This paper reports our initial simulations of sprays. A companion paper focuses on progress in the laboratory. The results reported here include simulations of sprays generated by a pressure swirl nozzle and a full cone nozzle and their impact on surfaces. The goals of these simulations are to demonstrate that they can accurately reproduce the characteristics of sprays seen in previous numerical simulations and laboratory experiments and also to develop the capability to perform the simulations that will be needed in the development of the Monte Carlo spray cooling model. The computations have been performed using the commercial ANSYS FLUENT CFD software. The fully three dimensional and axisymmetric simulations use the Finite Volume Method (FVM) computational technique to solve the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations for the air and the Discrete Phase Model (DPM) to calculate the trajectories of discrete droplets. Sprays are injected using the pressure-swirl atomizer and full cone nozzle models which are sub-models of DPM in FLUENT. Inertial, gravity, viscous, and surface tension forces are accounted for but heat transfer has not yet been included.

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