Back to search

Virginia Tech

The Impact Dynamics of Weakly Charged Droplets

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Electric charges are often found in naturally or artificially formed droplets, such as raindrops and those generated by Kelvin's water dropper. In contrast to the impact of neutral droplets on a flat solid surface upon which a thin convex lens shape layer of the gas film is typically formed, I show that the delicate gas thin film can be fundamentally altered for even weakly charged droplets both experimentally and numerically. As the charge level is raised above a critical level of about 1% of the Rayleigh limit for representative impact conditions, the Maxwell stress overcomes the gas pressure buildup to deform the droplet bottom surface. A conical liquid tip forms and pierces Through the gas film, leading to a circular contact line moving outwards that does not trap any gas. The critical charge level only depends on the capillary number based on the gas viscosity. The deformation applies to common liquids and molten alloy droplets. Even dielectric surfaces can also induce conical deformation. The charged droplets can also deform upon hydrophobic surfaces, and increase the contact time on hydrophobic surfaces or even avoid bouncing.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Doctor of Philosophy
Level thesis:degree_level
doctoral
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Mechanical Engineering
Department dc:contributor.department
Mechanical Engineering
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Gao, Fan
Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Qiao, Rui
  • Deng, Weiwei
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • Chen, Cheng
  • Paul, Mark R.
  • Tafti, Danesh K.

Subjects

dc:subject × 4

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
vt_gsexam:21927
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/92888

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Gao, Fan. The Impact Dynamics of Weakly Charged Droplets. doctoral thesis, Virginia Tech, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/92888