A RANS simulation toward the effect of turbulence and cavitation on spray propagation and combustion characteristics

A multidimensional computational fluid dynamic code was developed and integrated with probability density function combustion model to give the detailed account of multiphase fluid flow. The vapor phase within injector domain is treated with Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes technique. A new parameter is proposed which is an index of plane-cut spray propagation and takes into account two parameters of spray penetration length and cone angle at the same time. It was found that spray propagation factor (SPI) tends to increase at lower r/d ratios, although the spray penetration tends to decrease. The results of SPI obtained by empirical correlation of Hay and Jones were compared with the simulation computation as a function of respective r/d ratio. Based on the results of this study, the spray distribution on plane area has proportional correlation with heat release amount, NO _x emission mass fraction, and soot concentration reduction. Higher cavitation is attributed to the sharp edge of nozzle entrance, yielding better liquid jet disintegration and smaller spray droplet that reduces soot mass fraction of late combustion process. In order to have better insight of cavitation phenomenon, turbulence magnitude in nozzle and combustion chamber was acquired and depicted along with spray velocity.