To study the influence of atomiser design and coaxial air velocity on entrainment of coaxial and confined sprays, the sprays issuing from a number of different atomisers are investigated experimentally under various external flow conditions. Air and liquid velocity profiles in the spray are determined by phase-doppler-anemometry (PDA), liquid mass flux profiles are measured using a mechanical droplet collection device (patternator) with a high spatial resolution. Experiments are performed in a 300 mm diameter vertical wind tunnel at superficial air velocities up to 30 m s(-1) at liquid flow rates from 0.083 to 0.278 kg s(-1) Experimental results are compared with free spray data and a generalised free jet theory. Comparing the sprays from different atomisers displays high induced air flow rates for high velocity narrow sprays and high entrained air flow rates for wide sprays. The influence of coaxial air velocity depends largely on the width of the spray and may be predicted by a simple model that is developed to determine the entrainment of coaxial and confined sprays from free spray data.