Article: Numerical investigation of atomisation using a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian solver Journal: Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal (PCFD) 2021 Vol.21 No.6 pp.327 - 342 Abstract: This study investigates the potential of a newly released multi-phase solver to simulate atomisation in an air-blast type atomiser. The 'VOF-to-DPM' solver was used to simulate primary and secondary atomisation in an atomiser with a coaxial injector-like geometry. The solver uses a hybrid Eulerian/Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation with geometric transition criteria between the two models. In this study isothermal, non-reacting flow at room temperature was assumed. The primary focus was predicting Sauter mean diameter and droplet velocity data at a sampling plane downstream of the injector. The solver produces the expected data and predicts trends similar to those found in experimental measurements. The accuracy of the produced droplet diameters was roughly a factor 2 off compared to experiment. This is attributed primarily to mesh resolution. It was concluded that the solver has the potential to predict atomisation at a reasonable computational cost, but further study is needed to confirm its full capabilities. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Numerical investigation of atomisation using a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian solver

Authors: Botond Pál; Dirk Roekaerts; Barry Zandbergen

Addresses: Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD, Delft, Netherlands ' Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD, Delft, Netherlands; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600MB, Eindhoven, Netherlands ' Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD, Delft, Netherlands

Abstract: This study investigates the potential of a newly released multi-phase solver to simulate atomisation in an air-blast type atomiser. The 'VOF-to-DPM' solver was used to simulate primary and secondary atomisation in an atomiser with a coaxial injector-like geometry. The solver uses a hybrid Eulerian/Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation with geometric transition criteria between the two models. In this study isothermal, non-reacting flow at room temperature was assumed. The primary focus was predicting Sauter mean diameter and droplet velocity data at a sampling plane downstream of the injector. The solver produces the expected data and predicts trends similar to those found in experimental measurements. The accuracy of the produced droplet diameters was roughly a factor 2 off compared to experiment. This is attributed primarily to mesh resolution. It was concluded that the solver has the potential to predict atomisation at a reasonable computational cost, but further study is needed to confirm its full capabilities.

Keywords: atomisation; airblast; multi-phase flow; spray formation; CFD; Ansys Fluent; volume of fluid; Eulerian-Lagrangian; hybrid method.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2021.119266

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2021 Vol.21 No.6, pp.327 - 342

Received: 22 Oct 2019
Accepted: 06 Dec 2020
Published online: 30 Nov 2021 *

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Title: Numerical investigation of atomisation using a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian solver

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