Beyond laminar regime – Droplet interaction with air boundary layer

What is it about?

Air boundary layer on rotating disk may support controlled droplet levitation resulting in their high mobility. We show it is possible to levitate a droplet in both laminar and turbulent regimes, provided one properly sets initial condition, i.e. initial distance between moving surface that generates boundary layer and the droplet. We explore the influence of cross-flow instability and associated spiral vortices on the levitation phenomenon. We characterize the role of disk velocity on the droplet shape and levitation distance from the moving surface. The use of the presented results can lead to enhanced control of droplet levitation.

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