Cavitation in Diesel Fuel Injector Nozzles and its Influence on Atomization and Spray

In combustors, high-pressure fuel injector nozzles are employed for liquid atomization and spray generation. The internal flow within nozzles, especially cavitation, plays an important role in promoting the breakup of liquid jets. The formation mechanism and evolvement of cavitation are reviewed and described. Different cavitation regimes were characterized experimentally and the positive effect of cavitation on liquid atomization was confirmed. Different empirical formulas correlating the discharge coefficient with fluid-dynamical parameters are summarized. The applicability, advantages, and disadvantages of two popular computational models for flow modeling, i.e., the interface tracking model and the homogeneous equilibrium model, are reviewed. The effects of cavitation on the generated spray are discussed.