Splashing of drops on liquid layers

The splashing of drops on deep and shallow liquid layers has been investigated experimentally. The liquids used were water and 90 and 60% aqueous solutions of ethanol and glycerol. Simple geometrical models for the splash are used to calculate the various energy terms involved and the energy balance equation has been expressed in terms of the dimensionless Froude, Weber, and Reynolds numbers. Over the ranges of values of these numbers investigated, deep liquid splashing is determined by both the Froude and Weber numbers, while shallow liquid splashing is determined essentially by the Weber number. Data are presented which enable the maximum radius of the cavity and the maximum height of the crown formed during the splash to be calculated in a variety of splash situations.