Toward the development of a virtual spray test-rig using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics method

In this work we present the numerical simulation of air-assisted liquid atomization at high pressure us-
ing the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. Different post-processing tools are applied to
facilitate the comparison with experimental observations. This allows to quantitatively validate the nu-
merical method against the experiment, in terms of (i) frequency of the Kelvin–Helmholtz instability that
develops on the jet surface, and (ii) statistical distribution of the jet intact length. The qualitative com-
parison also shows a good prediction of the jet global instability and of the fragmented liquid lumps,
with regards to length and time scales. In addition, the post-processing tools also give access to the local
parameters of the generated spray in the vicinity of the nozzle, which are not easily accessible in a real
experiments. Using these tools, 1D profiles and 2D maps of the liquid phase properties such as the vol-
ume fraction, the droplet concentration, the Sauter Mean Diameter (SMD) and the droplet sphericity are
presented. Because of the Lagrangian nature of the SPH method, it is also possible to monitor the whole
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atomization cascade as a causal tree, from the primary instabilities to the spray characteristics. This tree
contains various information such as the fragmentation spectrum and the breakup activity, which are
of great interest for researchers and engineers. Hence, the capability of the Smoothed Particle Hydrody-
namics (SPH) method for simulating air-assisted atomization at high ambient pressure is demonstrated
as well as its applicability to realistic configurations. This is a first step towards the development of a
complete virtual spray test-rig.