Breakup criterion for droplets exposed to the unsteady flow generated by an incoming aerodynamic surface

An experimental and theoretical study is presented on the problem of droplet breakup exposed to a continuously accelerating flow generated by an incoming aerodynamics surface. Droplet breakup experiments were carried out in a rotating arm facility. Droplet diameters were of the order of 1 mm. The maximum velocity of the airfoils located at the end of the rotating arm was 90 m/s. Droplet deformation was computed using a phenomenological model developed previously by the authors. The dynamics of this deformation was coupled to an instability model based on the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor waves at the droplet surface. It was found that, within the experimental uncertainty, breakup occurs when the instability wavelength approaches the droplet hydraulic diameter assuming that it flattens and deforms as an oblate spheroid. This fact allowed for the generation of a theoretical closed-form droplet deformation and breakup model that predicts the onset of breakup with discrepancies of about ±10% when compared to the experimental results. Finally, as an application case, this closed-form model is used to simulate an actual situation in which the objective is to investigate whether a series of droplets that are approached by an airfoil either impact on its surface, or break prior to collision, or break without colliding, or pass through undamaged.