Impact of water droplets on a flat, solid surface was studied using both experiments and numerical simulation. Liquid–solid contact angle was varied in experiments by adding traces of a surfactant to water. Impacting droplets were photographed and liquid–solid contact diameters and contact angles were measured from photographs. A numerical solution of the Navier–Stokes equation using a modified SOLA-VOF method was used to model droplet deformation. Measured values of dynamic contact angles were used as a boundary condition for the numerical model. Impacting droplets spread on the surface until liquid surface tension and viscosity overcame inertial forces, after which they recoiled off the surface. Adding a surfactant did not affect droplet shape during the initial stages of impact, but did increase maximum spread diameter and reduce recoil height. Comparison of computer generated images of impacting droplets with photographs showed that the numerical model modeled droplet shape evolution correctly. Accurate predictions were obtained for droplet contact diameter during spreading and at equilibrium. The model overpredicted droplet contact diameters during recoil. Assuming that dynamic surface tension of surfactant solutions is constant, equaling that of pure water, gave predicted droplet shapes that best agreed with experimental observations. When the contact angle was assumed constant in the model, equal to the measured equilibrium value, predictions were less accurate. A simple analytical model was developed to predict maximum droplet diameter after impact. Model predictions agreed well with experimental measurements reported in the literature. Capillary effects were shown to be negligible during droplet impact when We≫Re1/2.

A three-dimensional model has been developed, of droplet impact onto asymmetric surface geometries. The model is based on RIPPLE, and combines a xed-grid control volume discretization of the ow equations with a volume tracking algorithm to track the droplet free surface. Surface tension is modelled as a volume force acting on uid near the free surface. Contact angles are applied as a boundary condition at the contact line. The results of two scenarios are presented, of the oblique impact of a 2 mm water droplet at 1 m s ont o a 4 5 o incline, and of a similar impact of a droplet onto a sharp edge. Photographs are presented of such impacts, against which the numerical results are compared. The contact angle boundary condition is applied in one of two ways. For the impact onto an incline, the temporal variation of contact angles at the leading and trailing edges of the droplet was measured from photographs. This data is applied as a boundary condition to the simulation, and an interpolation scheme proposed to evaluate contact angles between the leading and trailing edges. A simpler model is then proposed, for contact angle as a function of contact line velocity, and applied to both geometries. The model requires values of only two contact angles, at a rapidly advancing and a rapidly receding contact line. Simulation results compare well with photographic data.

A numerical model is used to simulate the fingering and splashing of a droplet impacting a solid surface. A methodology is presented for perturbing the velocity of fluid near the solid surface at a time shortly after impact. Simulation results are presented of the impact of molten tin, water, and heptane droplets, and compared with photographs of corresponding impacts. Agreement between simulation and experiment is good for a wide range of behaviors. An expression for a splashing threshold predicts the behavior of the molten tin. The results of water and especially heptane, however, suggest that the contact angle plays an important role, and that the expression may be applicable only to impacts characterized by a relatively low value of the Ohnesorge number. Various experimental data of the number of fingers about an impacting droplet agree well with predictions of a previously published correlation derived from application of Rayleigh-Taylor instability theory.

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