The potential of Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code for the modeling of flow in diesel injectors

This work deals with numerical simulations of the internal flow in diesel injectors, evaluating the skills of the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) code for capturing the turbulent patterns present in the flow. In order to evaluate the potential of the LES code, the results of the simulations have been compared to standard numerical RANS method results, and simultaneously validated with experimental values and DNS data. The experiments were made using special diesel injector geometry, reaching a high injection pressure condition and so ensuring a turbulent regime. In general, results show good agreement with the experimental values and DNS data. It was found that LES is capable of reproducing the turbulent structures in diesel nozzles, and as expected is more accurate than RANS, mainly in the boundary layer. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.