Particle & Particle Systems Characterization, Vol.23, No.6, 468-479, 2007
A new formulation of the Maximum Entropy Formalism to model liquid spray drop-size distribution
Considering the differences and disagreements involving the previous application of the Maximum Entropy Formalism to modeling the drop-size distribution of liquid sprays, a new formulation is suggested. The constraints introduced in this formulation are based on characteristic features common to any liquid atomization process, i.e., the production of large and small drops is always limited. These limitations are a consequence of the action of both destabilizing and stabilizing forces such as aerodynamic and surface tension forces, respectively. The solution resulting from this approach, which makes use of statistical mechanics, is a three-parameter Generalized Gamma Distribution, which can treat any type of distribution. It is shown that this solution is identical to a Nukiyama-Tanasawa distribution that should no longer be regarded as an empirical distribution. Although this new formulation clearly answers the question concerning the amount of information required to describe a spray drop-size distribution, it raises the problem of the mathematical form to be given to this information, and is discussed here.