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Assessment of Droplet Breakup Models for Spray Flow Simulations

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Abstract

In this paper we examine droplet behavior and macroscopic atomization characteristics of a non-reactive liquid spray via a series of large-eddy simulations. In our numerical study we examine three popular models for spray atomization, namely, the Taylor analogy breakup (TAB), Reitz–Diwakar and Pilch–Erdman models, and compare their predictions against available experimental data. According to our simulations, and for the flow conditions considered herein, the TAB model exhibits a slightly better performance than the other two models do. Further, since the TAB model is known to underestimate the effect of disruptive drag forces, we present a modification to it and assess its predictive capacity. More specifically, according to the numerical test presented herein, our modification has the potential to improve the accuracy in the numerical computation of important global quantities of the spray, such as the liquid and vapor penetration distances.

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Acknowledgements

The first author gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the National Research Fund of Belgium (FNRS) in the form of the ERANET BiofCFD program.

Funding

This study was funded by FNRS (Grant No. R.50.04.17.F).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mechanics, Materials and Civil Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    C. Sula & M. V. Papalexandris

  2. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany

    H. Grosshans

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  1. C. Sula
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  2. H. Grosshans
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  3. M. V. Papalexandris
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Correspondence to M. V. Papalexandris.

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Sula, C., Grosshans, H. & Papalexandris, M.V. Assessment of Droplet Breakup Models for Spray Flow Simulations. Flow Turbulence Combust 105, 889–914 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10494-020-00139-9

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