Implicit Large Eddy Simulation of Cavitation in Micro Channel Flows

TL;DR

This paper introduces a numerical LES method for simulating cavitation in micro channel flows, capturing wave dynamics and turbulence in compressible two-phase fluids, validated against experimental data relevant to fuel injectors.

Contribution

The paper develops and validates a LES approach for cavitating micro flows using a compressible two-phase model with phase change, addressing a gap in high-fidelity simulations of such flows.

Findings

LES resolves wave dynamics and turbulence in cavitating flows.

Method validated against experimental micro channel flow data.

Captures key features of cavitation in fuel injector conditions.

Abstract

We present a numerical method for Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of compressible two-phase flows. The method is validated for the flow in a micro channel with a step-like restriction. This setup is representative for typical cavitating multi-phase flows in fuel injectors and follows an experimental study of Iben et al., 2010. While a diesel-like test fuel was used in the experiment, we solve the compressible Navier-Stokes equations with a barotropic equation of state for water and vapor and a simple phase-change model based on equilibrium assumptions. Our LES resolve all wave dynamics in the compressible fluid and the turbulence production in shear layers.