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The role of time in single drop splash on thin film

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Abstract

This paper reports on an experimental study of the impact of water drops on thin liquid films. The morphology of the impact was studied by still photography, and quantitative results were obtained by a proper image analysis technique. The time evolution of various parameters like the crown diameter, the crown height, and the secondary drop diameters are reported, and these experimental parameters are correlated and compared to available theoretical models. A particular set-up of the acquisition system allowed us to photograph the splash from below the solid wall, allowing the first estimation of the crown thickness and the total number of jets protruding from the crown rim as a function of time. The results indicate that, for the range of the parameters investigated, there is not a strong dependence on the film thickness. The evolution of the crown height depends on the impact Weber number, whereas its growing velocity and the crown thickness evolution are almost independent of Weber number.

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Abbreviations

A,B,F,f,N :

functions

Bo :

Bond number

C,c,q :

constants

D :

drop diameter

d :

secondary drop diameter

f :

drop impact frequency

g :

acceleration due to gravity

H :

crown height

h :

film thickness

L :

length

m,n,p,.. :

exponents

Oh :

Ohnesorge number

s :

“nominal” crown thickness

t :

time

U :

potential energy

V :

velocity

We :

Weber number

σ :

surface tension

τ :

non-dimensional time

Δ:

non-dimensional crown diameter

Λ :

non-dimensional length

δ :

non-dimensional film thickness h/D0

γ :

front crown angle

η :

non-dimensional crown height

ρ :

density

μ :

dynamic viscosity

ν :

kinematic viscosity

0 :

initial value at time t=0

c :

crown

l :

lower external

m :

average

u :

upper external

g :

gravitational

in :

inner

jet :

jet

max :

maximum value

ou :

outer

sec :

secondary

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Acknowledgements

The experimental work was performed at the TEMPE-CNR laboratories in Milan; the authors would like to thank Ms. Michaela Olivetti and Ms. Monica Selenu for their valuable work during experiments, and Mr. Gianni Brunello for his help during set-up of the experiment. One of the authors (Dr. S. Zhdanov) was supported by a CNR-NATO scholarship. The authors are grateful to Dr. I. Roisman for very useful discussions.

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Correspondence to G. E. Cossali.

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Cossali, G.E., Marengo, M., Coghe, A. et al. The role of time in single drop splash on thin film. Exp Fluids 36, 888–900 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00348-003-0772-0

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