Numerical investigation of high-pressure transcritical shock-droplet interaction and mixing layer using VLE-based CFD accelerated by ISAT

To achieve high power density and thermodynamic cycle efficiency, the working pressures of liquid-propellant rocket engines, diesel engines, and gas turbines (based on deflagration or detonation) are continuously increasing, which could reach or go beyond the thermodynamic critical pressure of the liquid propellant. For this reason, the studies of trans- and super-critical injection are getting more and more attention. However, the simulation of transcritical phase change is still a challenging topic. The phase boundary, especially near the mixture critical point, needs to be accurately determined to investigate the multicomponent effects on transcritical injection and atomization. This work used our previously developed thermodynamic model based on the vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) theory, which can predict the phase separation near the mixture critical point. An in situ adaptive tabulation (ISAT) method was developed to accelerate the computationally expensive multicomponent VLE computation such that it can be cheap enough for CFD. The new thermodynamic model was integrated into Open FOAM to develop a VLE-based CFD solver. In this work, shock-droplet interaction and two-phase mixing simulations are conducted using our new VLE-based CFD solver. The shock-droplet interaction simulation results capture the thermodynamic condition of the surface entering the supercritical state after shock passes through. The atomization of droplets could be triggered by vorticity formed at the droplets’ surface. 2D temporal mixing layer simulations show the evolution of the transcritical mixing layer and capture the phase split effect at the mixing layer.