Evaluation of the Eulerian-Lagrangian Spray Atomization (ELSA) model in spray simulations: 2D cases

The aim of this paper is the evaluation and validation of the Eulerian-Lagrangian Spray Atomization (ELSA) model implemented in a CFD code by Renault. ELSA is an integrated model for capturing the whole spray evolution, in particular including primary break-up and secondary atomization. Two-dimensional simulations have been performed during the study, which is in fact enough to capture some of the main features of the spray, such as the spray penetration and the axial velocity. A mesh independence study has also been carried out in order to characterize the lowest mesh size that can be used to correctly characterize the spray. Furthermore, the two-equation k-epsilon turbulence model has been adjusted by changing some of the parameters of the dissipation rate transport equation in order to accurately characterize the spray. Finally some analyses of the results obtained, in terms of penetration, liquid mass fraction and droplet number and size, are presented in the last section of the paper. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.