Spray impingement modelling: Evaluation of the dissipative energy loss and influence of an enhanced near-wall treatment

The goal of the present research is to contribute to improve the knowledge about the spray impingement topic through a numerical study that is aimed at investigating the impact of using the dissipative energy terms that are available in the literature when they are embedded into a specific dispersion model. Comparing all the numerical approaches, a non-negligible disagreement is observed between the relationship proposed in the original model and the other ones drawn from the literature. This fact evidences the influence of the energy dissipated term on the secondary atomization outcome. The present work also provides a comprehensive study on the estimation of the energy dissipated during the splash event. This is a major contribution to the permanent literature since the few works found only addressed the spread regime. In addition, this paper gives an in-depth analysis on the influence that an enhanced treatment of the boundary layer in the region close to the wall may have in the simulation of such flows. The work revealed that this near-wall droplets tracking method provides an alternative way to increase the accuracy of the dispersed phase and achieve more consistent results without the necessity of a direct mesh refinement.

► Estimation of the post-impingement characteristics of the secondary droplets. ► Improvement of the droplet-wall interaction modeling. ► Definition of new energy dissipation correlations. ► Lack of adequate energy dissipation terms in the splash regime. ► Enhancement of the droplets tracking approach, in the near-wall region.