High order moment method for polydisperse evaporating sprays with mesh movement: Application to internal combustion engines

Relying on two recent contributions by Massot et al. SIAM J. Appl. Math. 70 (2010), 3203–3234] and Kah et al. J. Comput. Phys. 231(2012)], where a Eulerian Multi-Size Moment (EMSM) model for the simulation of polydisperse evaporating sprays has been introduced, we investigate the potential of such an approach for the robust and accurate simulation of the injection of a liquid disperse phase into a gas for automotive engine applications. The original model used a high order moment method in droplet size to resolve polydispersity, with built-in realizability preserving numerical algorithm of high order in space and time, but only dealt with one-way coupling and was restricted to fixed meshes. Extending the approach to internal combustion engine and fuel injection requires solving two major steps forward, while preserving the properties of robustness, accuracy and realizability: 1 – the extension of the method and numerical strategy to two-way coupling with stable integration of potential stiff source terms, 2 – the introduction of a moving geometry and meshes. We therefore present a detailed account on how we have solved these two issues, provide a series of verification of the proposed algorithm, showing its potential in simplified configurations. The method is then implemented in the IFP-C3D unstructured solver for reactive compressible flows in engines and validated through comparisons with a structured fixed mesh solver. It finally proves its potential on a free spray jet injection where it is compared to a Lagrangian approach and its reliability and robustness are assessed, thus making it a good candidate for realistic injection applications.