Impinging a millimeter-sized liquid droplet on a leaky substrate—such as a porous mesh—can cause the formation of many small droplets from the ligament fragmentation. Although this phenomenon has been widely considered as a desirable strategy to produce liquid sprays of monodisperse droplets, the underlying mechanism has not yet been completely elucidated, and the spray needs detailed characterization. Herein, we experimentally investigate the atomization phenomena occurring in the recoiling and spreading stages of impinging water droplets on superhydrophobic meshes. We show that the spray formed during droplet recoiling is stimulated by the longitudinally symmetric air cavity collapse on the superhydrophobic mesh, and thus the size of the spray formation area on the mesh is almost identical to the size of the simultaneously generated upward jet. By contrast, the water spray produced during droplet spreading is expelled under the action of the inertia-induced hydrodynamic pressure, and the size of spray formation area on the mesh exhibits a power-law dependence on the Weber number; yet, the pore geometry restricts it to take a constant value when the Weber number is sufficiently high. By performing statistical analyses on the spray droplet sizes, we further demonstrate that the mean sizes of spray droplets are mainly set by the mesh pore sizes, but the complex atomization dynamics leads to a broad size distribution, which is beyond the expectation.
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September 2021
Research Article|
September 15 2021
Water sprays formed by impinging millimeter-sized droplets on superhydrophobic meshes
Lijie Sun (孙莉杰);
Lijie Sun (孙莉杰)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
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Shiji Lin (林世玑);
Shiji Lin (林世玑)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
2
Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Huzhou 313001, China
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Bo Pang (庞博);
Bo Pang (庞博)
3
Sustainable Materials and Chemistry, Department of Wood Technology and Wood-based Composites, University of Göttingen
, Göttingen 37077, Germany
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Yile Wang (王意乐);
Yile Wang (王意乐)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
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Erqiang Li (李二强)
;
Erqiang Li (李二强)
4
Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China
, Hefei 230027, China
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Xiaotao Zu (祖小涛);
Xiaotao Zu (祖小涛)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
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Kai Zhang (张凯)
;
Kai Zhang (张凯)
a)
3
Sustainable Materials and Chemistry, Department of Wood Technology and Wood-based Composites, University of Göttingen
, Göttingen 37077, Germany
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: kai.zhang@uni-goettingen.de; xiaxiang@uestc.edu.cn; and lqchen@uestc.edu.cn
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Xia Xiang (向霞);
Xia Xiang (向霞)
a)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: kai.zhang@uni-goettingen.de; xiaxiang@uestc.edu.cn; and lqchen@uestc.edu.cn
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Longquan Chen (陈龙泉)
Longquan Chen (陈龙泉)
a)
1
School of Physics, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Chengdu 610054, China
2
Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
, Huzhou 313001, China
a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: kai.zhang@uni-goettingen.de; xiaxiang@uestc.edu.cn; and lqchen@uestc.edu.cn
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a)Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: kai.zhang@uni-goettingen.de; xiaxiang@uestc.edu.cn; and lqchen@uestc.edu.cn
Physics of Fluids 33, 092111 (2021)
Article history
Received:
June 10 2021
Accepted:
August 26 2021
Citation
Lijie Sun, Shiji Lin, Bo Pang, Yile Wang, Erqiang Li, Xiaotao Zu, Kai Zhang, Xia Xiang, Longquan Chen; Water sprays formed by impinging millimeter-sized droplets on superhydrophobic meshes. Physics of Fluids 1 September 2021; 33 (9): 092111. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0058512
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