Direct numerical simulation of drop impingement dynamics using the moment-of-fluid method

Yisen Guo, University of Louisville

Hopeman 224

The impact of liquid drops on surfaces is a ubiquitous phenomenon in nature and industry. To better understand the underlying mechanisms, direct numerical simulations were conducted on both dry and wet surfaces, using a Navier-Stokes solver with the variable density pressure projection method on a dynamic block-structured adaptive grid. The moment-of-fluid method was used to reconstruct phase interfaces. The numerical method is validated against experiments and theoretical predictions. The effect of ambient gas density on splashing was first studied, and it showed that lowering ambient gas density can suppress dry surface splashing while not significantly affecting wet surface splashing. Then, oblique impact simulations revealed that the tangential velocity can significantly alter impact phenomena. Finally, the droplet impact on an airfoil was studied to examine water collection efficiency and impingement limits for aviation safety.