Practical Spray Simulations using Euler-Lagrange Approaches

Dispersed and multiphase flows are a topic of major interest in aerospace applications, where spray dynamics strongly affect the performance of injectors and combustion chambers. This seminar presents an overview of the physical and numerical modeling of sprays for aerospace applications. After a brief introduction to liquid jets in crossflow and the reason behind the use of Euler–Lagrange spray approaches, the focus will shift to the modeling of dispersed flows.

Particular attention will be devoted to the Eulerian and Lagrangian formulations commonly employed in CFD solvers, such as drag, evaporation, injection and breakup models, as well as phase coupling and source-term treatment. The advantages, limitations, and typical numerical challenges associated with these approaches will be discussed in the context of practical spray simulations. Finally, recent results from the research activities at Politecnico di Torino will be presented, with a focus on the development and validation of CFD models for pintle injectors.