AN IMPROVED EMPIRICAL MODEL FOR PRIMARY ATOMIZATION IN SUBSONIC CROSSFLOW

A coupled volume of fluid (VOF)-Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT) solver was implemented in the open-source platform OpenFOAM to simulate the atomization process of a spray jet in subsonic cross-flow. In our previous work, an empirical model for primary atomization was proposed that performs well at high Weber numbers, but underestimates droplet diameter at low Weber numbers. This work attempts to improve its performance using the deformable model. First, it is demonstrated that the deformable model yields a more accurate and elaborate description of the flow characteristics than the original empirical model. Then, the constants in the original empirical model are calibrated using the results from the deformable model. Furthermore, the Rosin-Rammler distribution is introduced to prescribe the diameter distribution of the shedding droplets. Finally, the assessment of the improved model using experimental data demonstrates that it makes more accurate predictions at low Weber numbers while maintaining accuracy at high Weber numbers. In general, the improved model shows advancements in both accuracy and universality.