Numerical analysis of atomization characteristics of fuel-jet in crossflow

In order to study the breakup and atomization mechanisms of the fuel-jet in air crossflow and realize the accurate and controllable atomization effect of fuel, this paper proposes a method by coupling the large eddy simulation method and the VOF to DPM method. The results show that the breakup and atomization of the fuel-jet are mainly caused by the Rayleigh–Taylor (R–T) unstable surface wave and the Kelvin–Helmholtz (K–H) instability. The density of fuel-particles is higher near the central region of the fuel jet trajectory, decreasing as distance from the central region increases. As the momentum ratio increases, the penetration depth of the fuel-jet column also increases, resulting in a more concentrated spatial distribution of fuel particles. Conversely, with a lower momentum ratio, the spatial distribution of fuel particles becomes more uniform. For the spatial distribution of fuel particles, a new mathematical model is established to characterize the spatial distribution boundary of fuel particles. At the same momentum ratio, the higher the air velocity, the smaller the average particle diameter. At the same Weg number, the higher the fuel-jet velocity, the higher the average particle diameter. The relative error of the average particle diameter between the experiment and numerical simulation is very small, which is 6.4%.