CFD simulations of the diesel jet primary atomization from a multihole injector

Abstract

[EN] High pressure multi-hole diesel injectors are currently used in direct-injection common-rail diesel engines for the improvement of fuel injection and air/fuel mixing, and the overall engine performance. The resulting spray injection characteristics are dictated by the injector geometry and the injection conditions, as well as the ambient conditions into which the liquid is injected. The main objective of the present study was to design a high pressure multi-hole diesel injector and model the two-phase flow using the volume of fluid (VOF) method, in order to predict the initial liquid jet characteristics for various injection conditions. A computer aided design (CAD) software was employed for the design of the three-dimensional geometry of the assembly of the injector and the constant volume chamber into which the liquid jet emerges. A typical six-hole diesel injector geometry was modelled and the holes were symmetrically located around the periphery of the injector tip. The injector nozzle diameter and length were 0.2 mm and 1 mm, respectively, resulting in a ratio of nozzle orifice length over nozzle diameter L/D = 5. The commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CD was used for the generation of the computational mesh and for transient simulations with an Eulerian approach incorporating the VOF model for the two-phase flow and the Rayleigh model for the cavitation phenomenon. Three test cases for increasing injection pressure of diesel injection from the high pressure multi-hole diesel injector into high pressure and high temperature chamber conditions were investigated. From the injector simulations of the test cases, the nozzle exit velocity components were determined, along with the emerging liquid jet breakup length at the nozzle exit. Furthermore, the spray angle was estimated by the average radial displacement of the liquid jet and air mixture at the vicinity of the nozzle exit. The breakup length of the liquid jet and the spray cone angle which were determined from the simulations, were compared with the breakup length and cone angle estimated by empirical equations. From the simulations, it was found that cavitation takes place at the nozzle inlet for all the cases, and affects the fuel and air interaction at the upper area of the spray jet. Furthermore, the spray jet breakup length increases with elapsed time, and when the injection pressure increases both the breakup length and the spray cone angle increase.