Measurement Based Atomization Model for Diesel Spray Evaporation and Combustion in a Matrix Burner
This paper describes the development of an atomization model for implementation in a CFD solver. The model is developed for application in a matrix burner that is suitable for simulating the conditions prevailing in stationary gas turbines. The fuel considered is diesel and the matrix burner is designed using the Lean Premixed Prevaporized (LPP) concept. In this concept, the liquid fuel is first atomized, vaporized and thoroughly premixed with the oxidizer before it enters the combustion chamber. The injector used is a hollow-cone Schlick series 121–123 pressure-swirl atomizer. Extensive measurements are carried out at different atomization pressures to determine the right parameters like the nozzle diameter, atomization pressure and spray cone angle that will yield a good spray pattern. Based on the measurement data, the mass flow rate and the droplet size distribution are determined. The latter is determined by curve fitting the experimental data. The determined droplet size distribution is implemented in a Fortran subroutine that is hooked to the CFD solver. Cold flow CFD results are compared for different positions of the nozzle. The hot flow CFD results are also compared with the hot flow results obtained when the droplet size distribution is assumed to be uniform.