Numerical analysis of flow characteristics in diesel injector nozzles with convergent-divergent orifices

The geometry of diesel injector nozzles is known to significantly affect the characteristic spray behavior and emissions formation. In this paper, a novel nozzle concept, consisting of orifices with a convergent–divergent shape, is investigated through Computational Fluid Dynamics techniques. Three of these nozzles, characterized by different degrees of conicity, are compared to a nozzle with cylindrical orifices, which acts as a baseline. A homogeneous equilibrium model, validated against experimental data in previous works by the authors, is used to calculate the eventual cavitation formation inside these orifices. Additionally, the characteristics of the flow at the orifice outlet are analyzed for the four aforementioned nozzles in terms of their steady-state mass flow, effective outlet velocity and area coefficient. The results show that convergent-divergent nozzles exhibit a high cavitation intensity, located in the transition between the convergent and the divergent sections. This high cavitation intensity tends to compensate for the expected velocity decrease induced by the divergent shape, producing effective velocity values similar to those achieved by the cylindrical nozzle in many of the simulated conditions. The characteristics of the flow, together with the higher spray opening angles expected due to the divergent section of the nozzle, may improve atomization and fuel-air mixing processes.