Numerical analysis of eulerian multi-fluid models in the context of kinetic formulations for dilute evaporating sprays

The purpose of this article is the analysis and the development of Eulerian multi-fluid models to describe the evolution of the mass density of evaporating liquid sprays. First, the classical multi-fluid model developed in [Laurent and Massot, Combust. Theor. Model. 5 (2001) 537-572] is analyzed in the framework of an unsteady configuration without dynamical nor heating effects, where the evaporation process is isolated, since it is a key issue. The classical multi-fluid method consists then in a discretization of the droplet size variable into cells called sections. This analysis provides a justification of the "right" choice for this discretization to obtain a first order accurate and monotone scheme, with no restrictive CFL condition. This result leads to the development of a class of methods of arbitrary high order accuracy through the use of moments on the droplet surface in each section and a Godunov type method. Moreover, an extension of the two moments method is proposed which preserves the positivity and limits the total variation. Numerical results of the multi-fluid methods are compared to examine their capability to accurately describe the mass density in the spray with a small number of variables. This is shown to be a key point for the use of such methods in realistic flow configurations