Vibration-induced drop atomization and the numerical simulation of low-frequency single-droplet ejection

Vibration-induced droplet ejection is a novel way to create a spray. In this method, a liquid drop is placed on a vertically vibrating solid surface. The vibration leads to the formation of waves on the free surface. Secondary droplets break off from the wave crests when the forcing amplitude is above a critical value. When the forcing frequency is small, only low-order axisymmetric wave modes are excited, and a single secondary droplet is ejected from the tip of the primary drop. When the forcing frequency is high, many high-order non-axisymmetric modes are excited, the motion is chaotic, and numerous small secondary droplets are ejected simultaneously from across the surface of the primary drop. In both frequency regimes a crater may form that collapses to create a liquid spike from which droplet ejection occurs. An axisymmetric, incompressible, Navier–Stokes solver was developed to simulate the low-frequency ejection process. A volume-of-fluid method was used to track the free surface, with surface tension incorporated using the continuum-surface-force method. A time sequence of the simulated interface shape compared favourably with an experimental sequence. The dynamics of the droplet ejection process was investigated, and the conditions under which ejection occurs and the effect of the system parameters on the process were determined.