An investigation of the flow regimes resulting from splashing drops

Numerical simulations have been used to investigate the flow regimes resulting from the impact of a 2.9 mm water drop on a deep water pool at velocities in the range 0.8–2.5 m/s. The results were used to identify the conditions leading to the formation of vortex rings, entrapment of a bubble during cavity collapse and the formation of vertical Rayleigh jets. Bubble entrapment and the associated growth of a thin high speed jet were shown to be the result of a capillary wave that propagates down the walls of the crater resulting from drop impact. Although the existence of a capillary waves is a necessary condition for bubble entrapment, bubbles will only occur when the wave speed and maximum crater size is such that the wave reaches the bottom of the crater before collapse has resulted in the formation of a thick Rayleigh jet. Simulations also clarified the conditions for which drop impact leads to axi-symmetric vortex rings. Results not reported previously, include the observation that a single drop can pr...