Assessment of Cavitation Models for Flows in Diesel Injectors With Single- and Two-Fluid Approaches

Several recent cavitation models for the analysis of two-phase flows in diesel injectors with single- and two-fluid modeling approaches have been evaluated, including the Saha–Abu-Ramandan–Li (SAL), Schnerr–Sauer (SS), and Zwart–Gerber–Belamri (ZGB) models. The SAL model is a single-fluid model, while the other two models have been implemented with both single- and two-fluid approaches. Numerical predictions are compared with experimental results available in literature, qualitatively with experimental images of two-phase flow in an optically accessible nozzle, and quantitatively with measured mass flow rates and velocity profiles. It is found that at low injection pressure differentials there can be considerable discrepancy in the predictions of the vapor distribution from the three models considered. This discrepancy is reduced as the injection pressure differential is increased. Implementation of the SS and ZGB models with single- and two- fluid approaches yields noticeable differences in the results because of the relative velocity between the two phases, with two-fluid approach providing better agreement with experimental results. The performance of the SS and ZGB models implemented with the two-fluid approach is comparable with the SAL single-fluid model, but with significantly more computational time. Overall, the SAL single-fluid model performs comparatively better with respect to the other two models.