Modelling of cavitation in diesel injector nozzles

A computational fluid dynamics cavitation model based on the Eulerian-Lagrangian approach and suitable for hole-type diesel injector nozzles is presented and discussed. The model accounts for a number of primary physical processes pertinent to cavitation bubbles, which are integrated into the stochastic framework of the model. Its predictive capability has been assessed through comparison of the calculated onset and development of cavitation inside diesel nozzle holes against experimental data obtained in real-size and enlarged models of single- and multi-hole nozzles. For the real-size nozzle geometry, high-speed cavitation images obtained under realistic injection pressures are compared against model predictions, whereas for the large-scale nozzle, validation data include images from a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera, computed tomography (CT) measurements of the liquid volume fraction and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurements of the liquid mean and root mean square (r.m.s.) velocities at different cavitation numbers (CN) and two needle lifts, corresponding to different cavitation regimes inside the injection hole. Overall, and on the basis of this validation exercise, it can be argued that cavitation modelling has reached a stage of maturity, where it can usefully identify many of the cavitation structures present in internal nozzle flows and their dependence on nozzle design and flow conditions.