Assessment of gas and liquid velocities induced by an impacting liquid drop

B. H. Bang, S. S. Yoon, H. Y. Kim, S. D. Heister, H. Park, S. C. James

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A two-phase flow model using the boundary element method was applied to investigate the physics of a liquid drop impacting onto a solid, dry plate. Xu et al. showed that air pressure plays an important role in splashing: as air pressure was reduced, splashing of an ethanol drop with a Weber number of 838 was suppressed. This remarkable observation provided the motivation for the current modeling effort. We numerically investigate how air pressure affects the behavior of an impacting drop. Surveying both inside and outside the impacting drop, velocities of both the liquid and gas are computed. Simulations show that gas speed, as it is displaced by the falling drop, is more than three times higher than the incoming drop speed. Air entrainment induced by the displaced gas seems to be an important contributor to corona formation, which always precedes any instability, fingering, or splashing of the liquid. To describe drop-impact phenomena, the maximum spreading diameter of the drop and the topology of the impacting fluid are reported as functions of Weber number and gas density.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)55-66
Number of pages12
JournalInternational Journal of Multiphase Flow
Volume37
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011 Jan

Keywords

  • Aerodynamics effect
  • Air entrapment
  • BEM
  • Drop impact
  • Kelvin-Helmholtz instability
  • Splashing
  • Two-phase flow

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Physics and Astronomy(all)
  • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Assessment of gas and liquid velocities induced by an impacting liquid drop'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this