Exploration Of Reduced-Order Modeling For Wave-Induced Transonic Atomizer

Previous work to model the Wave-Augmented Varicose Explosions (WAVE) atomizer in 3D simulations required months of High Performance Computing (HPC) time. Reduced-order (2D) modeling would reduce the computing cost by orders of magnitudes. 2D Axisymmetric and 2D Planar models were run and compared with previous 3D models. The reduced-order models were compared with temporal and mean data from the 3D model across the following variables: velocity magnitude, liquid volume fraction, turbulence kinetic energy, strain rate, and specific dissipation rate all collected at a point location near the exit of the nozzle. While the frequency data did not line up well with the 3D results, the mean variables were all within an order of magnitude of the 3D results. Despite the frequency mismatch, the main pulsation mechanism was preserved in both lower order models. The Planar model showed greater wave height than the Axisymmetric model because of lower steam blockage, despite the azimuthal area effect. Future work will investigate how pulsation frequency varies with geometric changes.