Coupled Level-Set/Volume-of-Fluid Method for Simulation of Injector Atomization

This paper presents results of a multiphase computational fluid dynamics code using a coupled level-set/volume-of-fluid method to simulate liquid atomization. This interface-capturing approach combines the mass conservation properties of the volume-of-fluid method with the accurate surface reconstruction properties of the level-set method, and it includes surface tension as a volume force calculated with second-order accuracy. Developed by one of the authors, the multiphase code builds upon the combined level-set/volume-of-fluid methodology to enable bubbly flow, liquid breakup, and phase-change simulations. The extension presented in this paper couples a Lagrangian dispersed phase model for postbreakup tracking of droplets with block-structured adaptive mesh refinement on the Eulerian grid. Under an appropriate set of criteria, the transfer of droplets representation from the Eulerian to the Lagrangian discretization enables the simulation of sprays on larger domains and for longer physical times without degrading the overall accuracy of the calculation. A demonstration for like-on-like jet impingement of relevance to cold startup of liquid rocket engines is presented here at low, moderate, and high injection velocities, including validation with experimental data.