Study of the coalescence/splash threshold of droplet impact on liquid films and its relevance in assessing airborne particle release

International audienceImpingement of droplets on surfaces occurs in many industrial and natural processes. The study of droplet break-up is fundamental in order to determine the potential sources of airborne contamination for scenarios of hazardous liquid falls such as dripping. There are very few data in the literature describing the case of impact of millimetre-size droplets. The purposes of this work were to study experimentally particle emission during the impact of droplets on a liquid film and to assess the use of coalescence/splash relations to predict airborne particle release. The results are described using dimensionless numbers taking into account the inertial, viscosity and surface tension forces. Experiments were carried out for Weber numbers between 62 and 1754 and for Ohnesorge numbers between 2.0×10 -3 and 1.5×10 -2. New results on coalescence/splash thresholds are obtained using highly sensitive aerosol measurement and allow a prediction concerning the presence or absence of airborne particles according to a threshold relation. Moreover, we propose a modification of the Cossali et al.'s [1] relation in order to describe the coalescence/prompt splash threshold. © 2011 Elsevier Inc

Study of airborne particles produced by normal impact of millimetric droplets onto a liquid film

The aim of this work is to carry out an experimental investigation into the generation of airborne microparticles when millimetric droplets of aqueous solutions impact onto a liquid film. Impact experiments using 3.9 mm diameter droplets were carried out for Weber numbers between 159 and 808, with a fixed Ohnesorge number of 2 × 10-3 and film parameters S f (the ratio between the thickness of the liquid film h film and the diameter of the impacting droplet d i) between 0.3 and 1. Observed results show that the deposition/splashing threshold is independent of the parameter S f in agreement with the data in the literature. The aerosol measurement results demonstrate the production of solid particles from the evaporation of secondary microdroplets with diameters less than 30 μm formed when splash occurs. The median diameter of these microdroplets is around 20 μm, corresponding to a value of d 50/d i = 5 × 10-3. Taken together, the results show that the mass and the number of particles emitted increase as the Weber number increases. Moreover, at a Weber number of 808, the results show that the mass and number of particles emitted increases as the parameter S f decreases. In this case, the mean number of microdroplets emitted per impact is equal to 14 for S f = 1 and equal to 76 for S f = 0.3

Comparative SEM analysis of airborne particles generated during wet pavement cleaning

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Aerosol mass concentration measurements: Recent advancements of real-time nano/micro systems

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Photopotential Imaging on Functionalized Surfaces Dedicated to Label-Free Detection of Biomolecular Interactions

International audienceWe present a label-free biosensor capable to map local potential by photogenerating charge carriers in a field effect device. It consists in an amplitude-modulated laser beam scanning through an electrolyte/insulator/semiconductor structure at very low illumination around the equilibrium state of semiconductor. A proof of principle is demonstrated by depositing a self-assembled monolayer on the dielectric and by showing a clear photopotential change between naked and covered areas