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In this work we present the numerical simulation of air-assisted liquid atomization at high pressure using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. Different post-processing tools are applied to facilitate the comparison with experimental observations. This allows to quantitatively validate the numerical method against the experiment, in terms of (i) frequency of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability that develops on the jet surface, and (ii) statistical distribution of the jet intact length. The qualitative comparison also shows a good prediction of the jet global instability and of the fragmented liquid lumps, with regards to length and time scales. In addition, the post-processing tools also give access to the local parameters of the generated spray in the vicinity of the nozzle, which are not easily accessible in a real experiments. Using these tools, 1D profiles and 2D maps of the liquid phase properties such as the volume fraction, the droplet concentration, the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) and the droplet sphericity are presented. Because of the Lagrangian nature of the SPH method, it is also possible to monitor the whole atomization cascade as a causal tree, from the primary instabilities to the spray characteristics. This tree contains various information such as the fragmentation spectrum and the breakup activity, which are of great interest for researchers and engineers. Hence, the capability of the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method for simulating air-assisted atomization at high ambient pressure is demonstrated as well as its applicability to realistic configurations. This is a first step towards the development of a complete virtual spray test-rig.

In this paper, the complex two-phase flow during oil-jet impingement on a rotating spur gear is investigated using the meshless smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method. On the basis of a two-dimensional setup, a comparison of single-phase SPH to multiphase SPH simulations and the application of the volume of fluid method is drawn. The results of the different approaches are compared regarding the predicted flow phenomenology and computational effort. It is shown that the application of single-phase SPH is justified and that this approach is superior in computational time, enabling faster simulations. In the next step, a three-dimensional single-phase SPH setup is exploited to predict the flow phenomena during the impingement of an oil-jet on a spur gear for three different jet inclination angles. The oil’s flow phenomenology is described and the obtained resistance torque is presented. Thereby, a significant effect of the inclination angle on the oil spreading and splashing process as well as the resistance torque is identified.

View the article online for updates and enhancements. Abstract. Francis turbines may produce spontaneous pulsations of pressure and output power when operating at very high discharge. In such cases there is a cavitating central vortex in the draft tube with variable cavity volume V c . Until today, researchers agree that the main destabilizing agent is the so-called mass flow gain factor, defined as the derivative of cavity volume by the local discharge. Recent studies about 1D high-load stability analysis assumed that the mass-flow gain factor obtained from steady-state vortex data acts on the transient discharge downstream of the cavity. There are however good reasons to question this assumption. Most strikingly, the direct cause of the mass flow gain effect is the increase of swirl produced at the runner exit and hence upstream, not downstream of the cavity. To enhance the reliability of full-load stability predictions, the authors directly investigated the vortex dynamics. The development of the transient cavitating flow in the draft tube was simulated by means of unsteady 2-phase CFD. CFD work started with 1-phase calculations as presented by other authors. This was then extended to a more realistic 2-phase calculation. To contain the computing time within acceptable limits, given the very fine mesh and short time step required, the simulation domain was restricted to the draft tube and, at the same time, the problem was reduced to a basically 2-dimensional rotationally symmetric case. The response of the cavitating draft tube flow to a time-dependent inflow and time-dependent pressure at the draft tube exit was simulated. The results were input to a statistical identification procedure to check possible 1D transient models and find representative parameter values in the sense of a best fit between 1D model and CFD result. As we had suspected, the conventional vortex model with mass flow gain controlled by downstream discharge is not compatible with direct simulation and needs to be modified. The CFD results correspond to a model with the mass flow gain depending almost entirely on the runner exit discharge, delayed by a small dead time.

In this paper the complex two-phase flow during oil-jet impingement on a rotating spur gear is investigated using the meshless Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. A comparison of single-phase SPH to multi-phase SPH simulation and the application of the Volume of Fluid method on the basis of a two-dimensional setup is drawn. The results of the different approaches are compared regarding the predicted flow phenomenology and computational effort. It is shown that the application of single-phase SPH is justified and that this approach is superior in computational time, enabling faster simulations. In a next step, a three-dimensional single-phase SPH setup is exploited to predict the flow phenomena during the impingement of an oil-jet on a spur gear for various jet inclination angles. Thereby, a significant effect of the inclination angle on the oil spreading and splashing process is revealed. Finally, a qualitative comparison to an experimental high-speed image shows good accordance.