Experimental Study of Drop Impact on Deep-Water Surface in the Presence of Wind

The effects of wind on the impact of a single water drop on a deep-water surface are studied experimentally in a wind tunnel. Experiments are performed by varying impacting drop diameters, ranging from 2.5 to 4.1 mm and wind speeds up to 6.7 m s(-1). The sequence of splashing events that occurred during drop impacts is recorded with a backlit, cinematic shadowgraph technique. The experimental results show that for low wind speeds, an asymmetrical crown forms on the leeward of the periphery of the colliding region after the drop hits the water surface, while a wave swell forms on the windward. Secondary droplets are generated from the crown rim. For high wind speeds with large drop diameters, ligaments are generated from the crown rim on the leeward of the drop impact site. The ligaments grow, coalesce, and fragment into secondary droplets. It is found that both the drag force and surface tension play important roles in the evolution process of the ligaments. The nondimensional K number (K = WeOh(-0.4), where We is the Webber number and Oh is the Ohnesorge number) is used to describe the splashing-deposition limit of drop impact. The threshold value of this K number changes with the wind velocity and/or drop impact angle.