The primary objective of this study was to investigate and validate a predictive, turbulence based primary breakup model. The ESE model is based on a modeled evolution of the turbulent energy spectrum, and is sufficiently general that it may be applied to a broad range of pressure-atomized spray processes, such as those found in agricultural irrigation, industrial coating, automotive fuel injection, and others. In this study, the governing equations are derived and applied to diesel sprays to address a lack of predictive primary breakup models in literature. Tests are performed to demonstrate that the ESE model is numerically converged and has well-behaved model constants. Drop-size distributions are generated for the dense liquid region and compared with experimental and DNS results obtained from literature. Finally, it is proposed that the ESE model be coupled to an aerodynamically-based secondary breakup model to improve predictive capability under real 'diesel-like' conditions.