35 research outputs found
Dynamic nozzles for drop generators
received: 2015-06-03 accepted: 2015-10-16 published: 2015-11-03received: 2015-06-03 accepted: 2015-10-16 published: 2015-11-03This work was funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/H018913/1), the John Fell Oxford University Press Research Fund, and the Royal Society
Nasca Lines: A Mystery wrapped in an Enigma
We analyze the geometrical structure of the astonishing Nasca geoglyphs in
terms of their fractal dimension with the idea of dating these manifestations
of human cultural engagements in relation to one another. Our findings suggest
that the first delineated images consist of straight, parallel lines and that
having sophisticated their abilities, Nasca artist moved on to the design of
more complex structures.Comment: 6 pages, 1 color figure and 2 graphs. To appear in Chao
A fate-alternating transitional regime in contracting liquid filaments
The fate of a contracting liquid filament depends on the Ohnesorge number, the initial aspect ratio and surface perturbation. Generally, it is believed that there exists a critical aspect ratio such that longer filaments break up and shorter ones recoil into a single drop. Through computational and experimental studies, we report a transitional regime for filaments with a broad range of intermediate aspect ratios, where there exist multiple thresholds at which a novel breakup mode alternates with a no-break mode. We develop a simple model considering the superposition of capillary waves, which can predict the complicated new phase diagram. In this model, the breakup results from constructive interference between the capillary waves that originate from the ends of the filament
It's Harder to Splash on Soft Solids
Droplets splash when they impact dry, flat substrates above a critical
velocity that depends on parameters such as droplet size, viscosity and air
pressure. By imaging ethanol drops impacting silicone gels of different
stiffnesses we show that substrate stiffness also affects the splashing
threshold. Splashing is reduced or even eliminated: droplets on the softest
substrates need over 70\% more kinetic energy to splash than they do on rigid
substrates. We show that this is due to energy losses caused by deformations of
soft substrates during the first few microseconds of impact. We find that
solids with Young's moduli kPa reduce splashing, in agreement
with simple scaling arguments. Thus materials like soft gels and elastomers can
be used as simple coatings for effective splash prevention. Soft substrates
also serve as a useful system for testing splash-formation theories and
sheet-ejection mechanisms, as they allow the characteristics of ejection sheets
to be controlled independently of the bulk impact dynamics of droplets.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The dynamics of the impact and coalescence of droplets on a solid surface.
A simple experimental setup to study the impact and coalescence of deposited droplets is described. Droplet impact and coalescence have been investigated by high-speed particle image velocimetry. Velocity fields near the liquid-substrate interface have been observed for the impact and coalescence of 2.4 mm diameter droplets of glycerol∕water striking a flat transparent substrate in air. The experimental arrangement images the internal flow in the droplets from below the substrate with a high-speed camera and continuous laser illumination. Experimental results are in the form of digital images that are processed by particle image velocimetry and image processing algorithms to obtain velocity fields, droplet geometries, and contact line positions. Experimental results are compared with numerical simulations by the lattice Boltzmann method
Evolution of Gaussian wave packets in capillary jets
A temporal analysis of the evolution of Gaussian wave packets in cylindrical capillary jets is
presented through both a linear two-mode formulation and a one-dimensional nonlinear numerical
scheme. These analyses are normally applicable to arbitrary initial conditions but our study focuses
on pure-impulsive ones. Linear and nonlinear findings give consistent results in the stages for which
the linear theory is valid. The inverse Fourier transforms representing the formal linear solution
for the jet shape is both numerically evaluated and approximated by closed formulas. After a
transient, these formulas predict an almost Gaussian-shape deformation with (i) a progressive drift
of the carrier wave number to that given by the maximum of the Rayleigh dispersion relation, (ii)
a progressive increase of its bell width, and (iii) a quasi-exponential growth of its amplitude. These
parameters agree with those extracted from the fittings of Gaussian wave packets to the numerical
simulations. Experimental results are also reported on near-Gaussian pulses perturbing the exit
velocity of a 2 mm diameter water jet. The possibility of controlling the breakup location along the
jet and other features, such as pinch-off simultaneity, are demonstrated
Experimental Observation of Differences in the Dynamic Response of Newtonian and Viscoelastic Fluids
In this paper we present an experimental study of the dynamic responses of a
Newtonian fluid and a Maxwellian fluid under an oscillating pressure gradient.
We use laser Doppler anemometry in order to determine the velocity of each
fluid inside a cylindrical tube. In the case of the Newtonian fluid, the
dissipative nature is observed and the response obeys the Zhou and Sheng
universality (PRB 39, 12027 (1989)). In the dynamic response of the Maxwellian
fluid an enhancement at the frequencies predicted by the corresponding theory
(PRE 58, 6323 (1998)) is observed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 Figures, paper to be published in Phys. Rev.
On the analysis of the contact angle for impacting droplets using a polynomial fitting approach
ractical considerations on the measurement of the dynamic contact angle and the spreading diameter of impacting droplets are discussed in this paper. The contact angle of a liquid is commonly obtained either by a polynomial or a linear fitting to the droplet profile around the triple phase point. Previous works have focused on quasi-static or sessile droplets, or in cases where inertia does not play a major role on the contact angle dynamics. Here, we study the effect of droplet shape, the order of the fitting polynomial, and the fitting domain, on the measurement of the contact angle on various stages following droplet impact where the contact line is moving. Our results, presented in terms of the optical resolution and the droplet size, show that a quadratic fitting provides the most consistent results for a range of various droplet shapes. As expected, our results show that contact angle values are less sensitive to the fitting conditions for the cases where the droplet can be approximated to a spherical cap. Our experimental conditions include impact events with liquid droplets of different sizes and viscosities on various substrates. In addition, validating past works, our results show that the maximum spreading diameter can be parameterised by the Weber number and the rapidly advancing contact angle