The role of drop shape in impact and splash

Qingzhe Liu, Jack Hau Yung Lo (), Ye Li, Yuan Liu, Jinyu Zhao and Lei Xu ()
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Qingzhe Liu: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Jack Hau Yung Lo: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Ye Li: CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuan Liu: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Jinyu Zhao: The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Lei Xu: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The impact and splash of liquid drops on solid substrates are ubiquitous in many important fields. However, previous studies have mainly focused on spherical drops while the non-spherical situations, such as raindrops, charged drops, oscillating drops, and drops affected by electromagnetic field, remain largely unexplored. Using ferrofluid, we realize various drop shapes and illustrate the fundamental role of shape in impact and splash. Experiments show that different drop shapes produce large variations in spreading dynamics, splash onset, and splash amount. However, underlying all these variations we discover universal mechanisms across various drop shapes: the impact dynamics is governed by the superellipse model, the splash onset is triggered by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and the amount of splash is determined by the energy dissipation before liquid taking off. Our study generalizes the drop impact research beyond the spherical geometry, and reveals the potential of using drop shape to control impact and splash.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23138-4

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