Simulation of cavitation in outward-opening piezo-type pintle injector nozzles

The onset and development of cavitation in the annular needle seat passage of piezo-driven outward-opening pintle injector nozzles used with spray-guided direct-injection gasoline engines are studied using a Eulerian-Lagrangian computational fluid dynamics cavitation model. Cavitation is formed because of the fluid acceleration taking place at the needle sealing area and it has been found to be affected by its geometric details. Various submodels for nucleation and bubble formation, further bubble growth and collapse, as well as bubble break-up and transport are incorporated into the model. Qualitative model validation is performed against experimental data reported elsewhere in large-scale nozzle replicas, showing similar cavitation patterns to be formed. These consist of vapour pockets rather than a continuous vapour film and develop transiently in a rather chaotic manner around the circumferential needle sealing area, even under stationary geometry and fixed-flowrate conditions. Further transient effects associated with the fast opening and closing of the piezo-controlled needle valve are also presented.