Effect of nanoparticle additives on spray dynamics in a pressure-swirl atomizer: A numerical study

Tite: Effect of nanoparticle additives on spray dynamics in a pressure-swirl atomizer: A numerical study (DOI)
​​​​​​​Authors:  Arvin Poushand, Hossein Mahdavy-Moghaddam.
Journal: European Journal of Mechanics - B/Fluids
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Abstract: This study numerically investigates the influence of nanoparticle additives on the spray characteristics of liquid fuels within a pressure-swirl atomizer. A Lagrangian-based approach coupled with the Discrete Phase Model (DPM) was employed in ANSYS Fluent to track multicomponent fuel droplets, with nanoparticle loading represented through effective mixture properties rather than as an independently transported solid phase. Fischer-Tropsch (FT) and RP-3 fuels were mixed with aluminum (Al) and aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) nanoparticles. Simulations considered nanoparticle loadings from 0 to 2 wt% and evaluated maximum droplet velocity, droplet-size statistics, effective spray cone angle, mass-based spray penetration, and the combined effects of injection pressure and nanoparticle concentration. Results show that increasing nanoparticle content enhances atomization. For FT fuel, maximum droplet velocity decreased from 28.08 m/s to 26.97 m/s with 2.0 wt% aluminum oxide nanoparticles. Concurrently, maximum droplet diameter decreased from 1.30 × 10⁻⁴ m to 9.1 × 10⁻⁵ m with Al nanoparticles and to 7.7 × 10⁻⁵ m with Al₂O₃ nanoparticles at 2.0 wt% loading. Similar trends were observed for RP-3 fuel, where both velocity and droplet size decreased with increasing nanoparticle concentration. These findings demonstrate the potential of nanoparticle-loaded fuels to improve cold-flow spray quality, while their effects on evaporation and combustion performance require further investigation under non-isothermal and reactive conditions. The numerical model showed good agreement with available reference data, supporting its applicability within the investigated spray conditions.