CFD unified approach under Eulerian–Lagrangian framework for methanol and gasoline direct injection sprays in evaporative and flash boiling conditions

• Published in: International journal of multiphase flow Vol. 182; p. 105048
• Main Authors: Duronio, Francesco, Lien, Hao-Pin, De Vita, Angelo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2025
• Subjects: E00; Engine combustion network (ECN); Flash boiling; Gasoline surrogate; Large Eddy simulation; Methanol; Multi-component fuels; Preferential evaporation; Spray collapse; Spray M & G; Multi-component fuels; Engine combustion network (ECN); E00; Flash boiling; Spray collapse; Gasoline surrogate; Spray M & G; Preferential evaporation; Large Eddy simulation; Methanol
• ISSN: 0301-9322
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2024.105048

Innovative synthetic fuels for advanced propulsion systems, such as methanol and ammonia, and synthetic blended fuels (E00, E10, and E30), known for their high volatility, are often injected directly into combustion chambers. It follows that Eulerian–Lagrangian spray models need to accurately capture the spray collapse as a consequence of flash boiling onset and be capable of proficiently handling the preferential evaporation of multi-component fuels in evaporative scenarios. So, we performed the assessment of an Eulerian–Lagrangian CFD code for simulating methanol and E00 gasoline blend sprays in both early and late injection conditions involving flash boiling conditions and preferential evaporation. The adoption of an effervescent breakup model and of a non-equilibrium phase transition model for the discrete phase allows the adoption of a setup that is almost completely free from specific constant tuning, especially for what concerns the breakup model. We validated the simulations using experimental PLV maps of methanol and E00 sprays issued from the ECN Spray M injector. The results highlight a significantly different morphology of the methanol spray compared to the E00 one under late injection conditions. Under stratified combustion, low-volatile fuels are likely to be ignited first, and the flame propagates toward the high-volatile fuels. The spray collapse was also correctly reproduced, inducing the presence of a low-pressure zone and modifying the spray morphology. [Display omitted] •Eulerian–Lagrangian unified CFD approach for simulating evaporative and flash boiling liquid sprays.•Investigation of methanol and gasoline direct injections.•Evaluation of preferential evaporation of multi-component fuels.•Implementation of a thermal non-equilibrium phase change model and an effervescent breakup model.•Characterization of spray collapse and flash boiling phenomena.