Large Eddy Simulation of Emulsified Canola Oil Sprays in Swirl-Promoted Combustion Chamber

A study has been undertaken to understand the effects of swirl-promoted turbulent flow on the spatial distribution of emulsified canola oil droplets. To fully understand the effects of swirling flow on fuel droplets, the discrete phase model (DPM) has been adopted to simulate straight vegetable oils (SVO) blend droplets. The stochastic break-up model has been used to simulate the aggregated dynamic behavior of fuel droplets in the combustion chamber. A robust and stable numerical algorithm has been selected and validated using experimental data in terms of mean flow velocity profiles and fuel droplet spray distribution using known fuel characteristics. The interaction between the swirling air flow and fuel droplets have been simulated using LES by considering two swirl numbers. The effects of swirl number on droplet spatial distributions in the combustion chamber have been considered and evaluated correspondingly. Specifically, the effects of air flow structure on fuel droplet distributions have been evaluated via numerical simulation. Results reveal that fuel droplet distribution is affected by the vortices generated by the swirler. Moreover, the results also indicate that swirl number (SN) has a distinct effect on the distribution of droplets and the evolution of vortices in the combustion chamber.