Building Lagrangian injectors from resolved primary atomization simulations. Application to jet in crossflow fuel injection

Abstract

This work aims at improving Lagrangian particle injectors for the simulation of sprays. In such simulations, primary atomization is not resolved and Lagrangian particles are directly injected as a dispersed phase in the flow. Two main challenges arise in such methodology: i) the prescription of the correct droplet size and velocity distributions at injection, ii) ensuring the proper coupling of the dispersed phase with the gas phase to have the correct gas flow field after the injection. The proposed approach relies on an improved Lagrangian injector model and on resolved primary atomization simulations to feed the injector model parameters. The resolved atomization simulations are performed using a sharp-interface approach (ACLS/GFM) on unstructured grids [1,2]. The validation test case is a high-pressure, non-reactive kerosene jet in crossflow (JICF) atomizer configuration [3], which is representative of complex injection systems. Resolved simulations of atomization for this configuration are performed and validated against the experimental correlation for the jet trajectory, showing good accordance. These simulations are then post-processed to feed the Lagrangian injector model. Finally, the injectors are applied to the same configuration and compared to experimental data.