LES Study of a Turbulent Spray Jet: Mesh Sensitivity, Mesh-Parcels Interaction and Injection Methodology

Abstract

This study focuses on Large Eddy Simulations (LES) in the Eulerian-Lagrangian framework of turbulent spray jets. The choice of the numerical grid relates both to turbulence level description and parcels-grid cells interaction. The objective of the present work is to determine a case set-up capable of predicting flow fields of a turbulent n-heptane spray jet for which a set of experimental data in non-reactive conditions (isothermal) is available (Shum-Kivan Proc. Combust. Inst. 36(2), 2567–2575 (2017)). The study first focuses on the LES grid, based on simulation with only gas phase, and subsequently on the choice of the suitable number of parcels to describe the spray. The droplets behavior is analyzed using the particle Stokes number at different axial locations. Furthermore, a variation in the existing injection methodology, as available in OpenFOAMⓇ, reveals a beneficial impact on the prediction of the experimental data.