Large-eddy simulation of non-vaporizing sprays using the spectral-element method

Predictive simulations of high-pressure sprays require accurate representation of the turbulent gaseous flow field generated by liquid jet. Typically, the accuracy that can be obtained with low-order numerical methods (e.g. finite volume, finite element) is limited by stability issues in fine grids and the order of convergence of the method. In this work, we resolve the turbulent flow field in an Eulerian manner using the high-order spectral element method, coupled with a Lagrangian parcels approach to model the atomizing liquid jet. Large-eddy simulations of single-hole sprays under non-evaporative conditions were conducted and compared against experimental data from Margot et al. (2008) and Spray A data from the Engine Combustion Network. The sensitivity of liquid penetration and droplet sizes to different breakup model parameters was studied. The effect of different numerical parameters, such as polynomial order of the solution (grid resolution), on liquid penetration was also analyzed. The method achieved grid-independent results using p-refinement, achieving finer resolution (by a factor of ×1.7−×3.5) in the gas-phase solution than in state-of-the-art simulations using the finite-volume method. Results showed good agreement with experimental data, demonstrating the ability of the current method to accurately capture liquid penetration and the shape of the spray. •A novel approach based on the spectral element method was used for modeling sprays.•Grid-independent results of liquid penetration were possible thanks to h- and p-refinement.•Simulation results were rather insensitive to other numerical parameters, such as filter width and number of parcels.•Spray model parameters had the greatest influence on results, especially the cone angle and breakup model constants.