Spreading of droplets under various gravitational accelerations

D'Angelo O, Kuthe F, Van Nieuwland K, Janssen CE, Voigtmann T, Jalaal M (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Review of Scientific Instruments AIP Publishing

Book Volume: 93

Journal Issue: 11

DOI: 10.1063/5.0105624

Abstract

We describe a setup to perform systematic studies on the spreading of droplets of complex fluids under microgravity conditions. Tweaking the gravitational acceleration under which droplets are deposited provides access to different regimes of the spreading dynamics, as quantified through the Bond number. In particular, microgravity allows us to form large droplets while remaining in the regime where surface tension effects and internal driving stresses are predominant over hydrostatic forces. The vip-drop(2) (visco-plastic droplets on the drop tower) experimental module provides a versatile platform to study a wide range of complex fluids through the deposition of axisymmetric droplets. The module offers the possibility to deposit droplets on a precursor layer, which can be composed of the same or a different fluid. Furthermore, it allows us to deposit four droplets simultaneously while conducting shadowgraphy on all of them and observing either the flow field (through particle image velocimetry) or the stress distribution inside the droplet in the case of stress birefringent fluids. It was developed for a drop tower catapult system, is designed to withstand a vertical acceleration of up to 30 times the Earth's gravitational acceleration in the downward direction, and is capable of operating remotely under microgravity conditions. We provide a detailed description of the module and an exemplary data analysis for droplets spreading on-ground and in microgravity. (C) 2022 Author(s).

Authors with CRIS profile

Olfa D'Angelo Lehrstuhl für Multiscale Simulation of Particulate Systems (MSS)

Involved external institutions

Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR) / German Aerospace Center

Germany (DE) University of Amsterdam

Netherlands (NL)

How to cite

APA:

D'Angelo, O., Kuthe, F., Van Nieuwland, K., Janssen, C.E., Voigtmann, T., & Jalaal, M. (2022). Spreading of droplets under various gravitational accelerations. Review of Scientific Instruments, 93(11). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0105624

MLA:

D'Angelo, Olfa, et al. "Spreading of droplets under various gravitational accelerations." Review of Scientific Instruments 93.11 (2022).

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