We present different simulations of primary atomization using an adaptive Volumeof-Fluid method based on octree meshes. The use of accurate numerical schemes for mesh adaptation, Volume-of-Fluid advection and balanced force surface tension calculation implemented in Gerris, the code used to perform the simulations included in this work, has made possible to carry out accurate simulations with characteristic scales spreading over several orders of magnitude. The code is validated by comparisons with the temporal linear theory for moderate density and viscosity ratios, which basically corresponds to atomization processes in high pressure chambers. In order to show the potential of the code in different scenarios related to atomization, preliminary results are shown in relation with the study of the two-dimensional and 3D temporal and spatial problem, the influence of the injector and the vortex generated inside the chamber, and the effect of swirling at high Reynolds numbers.

The temporal instability of parallel two-phase mixing layers is studied with a linear stability code by considering a composite error function base flow. The eigenfunctions of the linear problem are used to initialize the velocity and volume fraction fields for direct numerical simulations of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations with the open-source GERRIS flow solver. We compare the growth rate of the most unstable mode from the linear stability problem and from the simulation results at moderate and large density and viscosity ratios in order to validate the code for a wide range of physical parameters. The efficiency of the adaptive mesh refinement scheme is also discussed.