On the Coherent Length of Fluid Nozzles in Grinding

The delivery of grinding fluid to the contact zone is generally achieved via a nozzle. The nozzle geometry influences the fluid velocity and flow pattern on exit from the nozzle orifice. It is important to the efficiency of the process and to the performance of the operation that the fluid is delivered in a manner that ensures the desired jet velocity has adequate coverage of the contact zone. Often, assumptions about adequate coverage are based on visual inspections of the jet coherence. This paper provides new insight into the internal nozzle flows and the coherent length of a wide range of nozzle designs. The work presents a new analytical model to predict coherent length which is shown to correlate well with measured data from experiment. Recommendations are given to guide a user to optimal design of nozzles to ensure adequate fluid supply to the contact zone.