The rotary compressor is widely used in small air conditioners, and is the most important element in the system. It relies on eccentric rolling pistons that rotate at high speed to compress refrigerant in the cylinder. The lubricant oil in the rotary compressor is used for lubricating the bearing and sealing the clearance of sliding parts. However, the oil can experience complex and highly-coupled atomization processes when discharged from the cylinder, and part of oil droplets can exhaust from the rotary compressor by the refrigerant flow and reduce the efficiency and reliability of the compressor as a result. Thus, characterizing the behavior of oil droplets in the lower cavity of a rotary compressor where the atomization occurs is a major challenge for manufacturers who rely on CFD tools to predict the multiphase flow. By modifying a rotary compressor, the oil behavior in the lower cavity of a rotary compressor is observed and recorded by shadowgraphy. In the current phase, the number, size, and morphology of oil droplets are analyzed statistically with image processing method, which provides better understanding to the atomization mode in the lower cavity, the velocity of the mist of oil droplets is calculated with Optical Flow Velocimetry. The results can assist designers in improving the CFD analysis of compressors and ultimately reducing the Oil Discharge Rate (ODR).

Digital holographic microscopy (DHM) enables 3D volumetric measurements of small objects with high magnification. DHM has been applied to measure a variety of experimental studies, including turbulent boundary layer, spray droplets, individual cells, development of zebrafish embryo, etc. In this study, a DHM system is applied to measure the morphology and locomotion of two groups of Caenorhabditis Elegans (C. Elegans) with different development conditions (ATGL-1 group and n2 group) in an 8-day time period from their hatching to the adult stage, whose body lengths range from hundreds of micrometers to one millimeter. The length and volume are determined to describe the morphology of the C. Elegans at different development stages. The locomotion of the C. Elegans is divided into linear motion and curl motion. The kinetic energy derived from the two types of motion describes the extent of how active the C. Elegans is. The statistics of morphology and locomotion of the two groups of C. Elegans are compared at different development stages to illustrate the influence of the applied development conditions.

Particle transport through Marangoni convection inside a sessile droplet can be controlled by the UV light distribution on the surface. The photosensitive solution changes the surface tension gradient on the droplet surface and can induce clockwise and counter-clockwise circulations depending on the incident light distribution. In this paper, the stream function in the sessile drop has been evaluated in toroidal coordinates by solving the biharmonic equation. Multiple primary clockwise and counter-clockwise circulations are observed in the droplet under various concentric UV light profiles. The downward dividing streamlines are expected to deposit the particles on the substrate, thus matching the number of deposited rings on the substrate with the number of UV light rings. Moffatt eddies appear near the contact line or centerline of the droplet either due to a sharp change in the UV light profile or because the illuminated region is away from them.

A two-fluid atomizer has been frequently used in a wide range of industries for various purposes such as painting, cleaning particles and snow making. In particular, the manufacturing of advance semiconductors using sensitive devices such as organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), require high performance nozzle. The droplets sprayed with a high relative gas velocity are widely used for cleaning particles. In this paper, two-fluid atomizer is numerically studied according to four variables to confirm the effect on the atomizer performance. The numerical results using the discrete phase model (DPM) with several break-up models are compared with the experimental data measured by the phase doppler particle analyzer (PDPA). Design of experiment (DOE) and genetic algorithm (GA) were used to obtain design points, and conduct sensitivity analysis, respectively. The results showed that the WAVE model has a good agreement compared to the other models, and the orifice diameter is a crucial factor for this model to determine the performance of Weber number and pressure.

Microfluidic delivery systems have been employed to facilitate cell seeding procedures in drug development for personalized medicine for cancer patients. Despite of the high-throughput nature and potential impact on clinical outcomes of these systems, the efficiency in cell trapping remains a challenge in the operation. Droplet-based microfluidics became one of the solutions due to the large size of the cell-enclosing droplets and their interfacial properties. This study is focused on the motion of the cell-enclosing droplet in a constricted return bends that help to restrict the release of the cells while maintaining the high-throughput nature of the device. In this preliminary study, a three-dimensional boundary element method is used to predict droplet shape, deformation and migration velocity under the influence of various fluid properties and operational conditions. A variety of channel geometries have been explored as well. The resulting computational framework will be used to guide the design of a droplet-based microfluidic delivery system for cell seeding in 3D tumor spheroid arrays.

A droplet entrainment model was applied to characterize the flow pattern transition in the countercurrent horizontal flow with liquid nitrogen (LN 2 ) and vapor nitrogen (VN 2 ). A two-fluid three-field model consisting of liquid film, gas, and droplet was implemented based on the Eulerian-Eulerian model in ANSYS Fluent ® . In the droplet entrainment model, the condition and position of the droplet generation were realized by calculating the velocity gradient in the normal direction of the interface towards the gas core. The droplet entrainment and deposition rates were also included and validated according to the available data of water/air in the literature. Three flow patterns, including stratified-wavy flow, churn flow, and pseudo-slug flow, were identified in simulation results with LN 2 /VN 2 . Furthermore, ligament breakup was found to be the main droplet entrainment mechanism in the churn and pseudo-slug flow, and there can be a high probability of the occurrence of bubble burst as well. Compared with water/air, the droplets are more easily to be entrained in LN 2 /VN 2 due to the smaller viscosity and surface tension according to the results of droplet mass flow rate. Pressure drop signals of the three flow patterns were also obtained and analyzed.

The downhole liquid atomization by supersonic nozzle is an economic and efficient way to alleviate the liquid loading, but the optimal efficiency conditions are still not clear. In this paper, experimental studies were conducted in a 6-m long and 30-mm inner diameter vertical Perspex pipe to evaluate the performance of supersonic nozzle in different conditions. Camera was employed to record the characteristic of fluid flow downstream the nozzle, and the MATLAB was used in combination with DIP-image technology to determine the diameter of droplets. The experimental results show that mist is easy to be captured by the liquid bulk due to the liquid loading downstream the nozzle when the gas-liquid two phase flow pattern downstream nozzle is non-annular flow, thus leading to a failure of this technology. Due to the huge temperature drop in the annular flow condition, small fraction of mist is condensed into droplets and then attaches onto the pipe wall, forming liquid film. The remaining mist can still flow upwards. In this article, when the gas velocities upstream the nozzle range from 2.4m/s to 3.2m/s, the size of droplets range from 50μm to 1000μm correspondingly. Field application indicates that this technology under the effective operating envelops are able to be efficient to remove the liquid-loading, and the gas wells can maintain a long-term stable production.

A semi-analytical solution for the concentration of photosensitive suspension is developed in a hemispherical droplet illuminated with UV laser. A biharmonic equation in stream function is analytically solved using toroidal coordinates and the velocity is then used to solve the mass transport equation for concentration. Flow pattern and photosensitive material concentration are affected by the peak location of the UV light intensity, which corresponds to a surface tension profile. When the laser beam is moved from the droplet center to its edge, a rotationally symmetric flow pattern changes from a single counter clockwise circulation to a circulation pair and finally to a single clockwise circulation. This modulation in the orientation of circulation modifies the concentration distribution of the photosensitive material. The distribution depends on both diffusion from the droplet surface as well as Marangoni convection. The region beneath the droplet surface away from the UV light intensity peak has low concentration, while the region near the downward dividing streamline has the highest concentration. When the UV light peak reaches the droplet edge, the concentration is high everywhere in the droplet.

Interface instability of droplet and formation of the liquid jet caused by internal volume oscillation are directly related to liquid pumping and mixing of microfluidic devices. Complex morphology jet enables liquid shaping, which is advantageous for industrial applications and biomedical engineering. In this study, the interface instability of cylindrical droplet between plates is investigated. The problem is analyzed through numerical simulation and experimentation. In the experiment, a single-pulse laser is used to generate cavitation at the center of the cylindrical droplet between two polymethyl methacrylate plates, and the physical progress is captured by high-speed photography. A compressible two-phase solver in the open source code OpenFOAM is used to simulate the 3D progress of bubble pulsation and droplet jet in consideration of viscosity and surface tension. Numerical methods adopt large eddy simulation. Results show that the interface density gradient is not collinear with the pressure gradient due to the shock wave impact and the bubble pulsation, that is, the baroclinic effect is the main cause of the instability at the droplet interface. The mechanism of the radial jet formation in the first period of bubble pulsation is closely related to the interface instability. A pair of vortex rings is formed under the influence of instability, thereby causing a stacking phenomenon on the jet head and eventually being cut. Affecting factors of the instability of the droplet interface are discussed. A high instability intensity of the droplet interface can be caused by a large initial bubble energy and a small contact angle. The instability strength of the droplet interface and the mode of jet formation are very sensitive to the curvature of the initial droplet shape. Relevant results may provide a reference for further understanding of interface instability and related engineering applications.

A plethora of studies have investigated the motion of a liquid droplet in the vicinity of a smooth surface, incurred by shear flow, parabolic flow or gravity. However, there are few studies that consider the roughness of the surface that could affect the droplet motion. In this study, we employ a 3D spectral boundary element method for interfacial dynamics to examine the droplet translation, migration, and deformation in the vicinity of a rough surface due to shear flow. The roughness feature of the surface is comparable to the size of the droplet and is simulated with sinusoidal functions. Topologies of epoxy coating surfaces are also considered in the computations. The roughness and profile of the coating surface is obtained by atomic force microscopy. The computational results show that the surface roughness affects significantly the behavior of a deformable droplet near the surface, including its deformation and migration speed. In return, the dynamics of the droplet also influences the stress distribution on the rough surface. The results of this study could provide theoretical foundation in the prediction of particle induced erosion corrosion of organic coatings.

Numerical simulations of high-pressure gas atomization are performed by varying the molten metal and the atomizing gas to understand the physics behind high-pressure gas atomization and the effects of the melt and the atomizing gas on droplet size distributions. The Volume of Fluid method is used in the OpenFoam platform. The three melt-gas combinations used in these simulations are aluminum-nitrogen, aluminum-argon, and low carbon steel-nitrogen. Three interfacial instabilities have been identified in the early stages of all three atomization processes. Comparison of aluminum and steel as the molten metal indicates that steel atomizes more effectively and provides a higher yield than aluminum. However, changing the atomizing gas does not result in a significant change in the atomization process.

Splitting a single droplet into two unequal portions using a microfluidic T-junction has been an important functional feature of many modern lab-on-a-chip devices. A recent study introduced a general criterion for asymmetric droplet break-up in the range of intermediate Capillary numbers. The current work attempts to analyze, in more details, the different underlying mechanisms governing the asymmetric break-up process. In particular, this work focuses on the relationship between the break-up mechanism versus the splitting ratio of the daughter droplets. CFD simulation is used to closely monitor the effect of different fluid properties on the evolution of droplet break-up process. The splitting ratio under different flow conditions is characterized. Four mechanisms for primary droplet break-up are defined as follows: break-up with permanent obstruction, unstable break-up, breakup with tunnels and non-breakup. In particular, the main focus of this study is on the unstable break-up mechanisms where is very likely results to a much-deviated splitting ratio. Typically, yet unexpectedly, the resulting splitting ratio is often larger than the pressure gradient ratio in the T-junction. However, the two ratios are approximately equals to each other under a limited set of flow conditions. It has been observed that the splitting ratio could be more than double the pressure gradient ratio of the T-junction. The break-up is observed to be in the permanent obstruction mode if the splitting ratio is about the same magnitude as the pressure gradient ratio. The effects of the T-junction geometry on the break-up will also be examined.

A rotary compressor relies on an eccentric rolling piston, which rotates at high speed, to compress gas in the compression chamber. The oil in the rotary compressor is used for lubricating the bearing and sealing the clearance of sliding parts. However, the oil can exhaust from the rotary compressor by the refrigerant flow and reduce the reliability of the compressor as a result. Thus, studying the behavior of oil droplets distribution in a rotary compressor is a major challenge for manufacturers who rely on CFD tools to predict the multiphase flow. By modifying a rotary compressor, the oil behavior inside the cylinder is observed and recorded by a high-speed imaging system. In the current phase, multiple targeted locations, including the space between the bearing housing and the stator, and the space above the stator are measured in different conditions. The number, size, velocity, and morphology of oil droplets are analyzed based on multiple snapshots. The result can assist designers in improving the CFD analysis of compressors and ultimately reducing the oil discharge rate (ODR).

In this paper, the samples with ratchet structures surface, are set vertically and horizontally in the liquid transportation experiments. Both static and dynamic directional property has been recorded by a high-speed camera. The variation of static contact angles and the shape of the drop in a ratchet structure are measured. The geometric evolutions of drop shed off along different direction on ratchet structure surface and the smooth surface under dynamic condition, are observed for comparison. The advancing contact angle and velocity of drop shed off the ratchet structure are analyzed in detail. The directional liquid transportation mechanism of anisotropic wettability property is demonstrated. Results show that the static drop moves parallel along ridges quickly, and the tooth limit the anisotropic drop spread to the other teeth along the vertical direction, this anisotropic wettability behavior in ratchet structure, which is related to the velocity of liquid transport, the velocity of liquid drop along the backward direction is slower than that of forward direction. The anisotropic wettability property along the horizontal direction of groove limits the transportation ability of the drop. The observed drop deformation includes rotating, rolling, and shaking-induced movements. The surface tension, adhesive behavior, and curvature difference cause the hysteresis effect, which presents a major barrier for liquid transportation.

Digital in-line holography (DIH) has been applied to measure the 3D position of objects in a variety of applications, including bubbles and droplets in multi-phase flows, tracking particles in turbulence flows, etc. In addition to the 3D position, the morphology and dimension of the individual particles can also be extracted from the recorded hologram. In this study, a lens-less digital in-line holography setup is applied to measure the morphology and size of three kinds of solid particles (Wollastonite Powder, Pearl Mica Powder and Solder Powder), whose sizes range from several to hundreds of micrometers. The statistics of equivalent diameter, aspect ratio and circularity are introduced to describe the morphology and dimension of each kind of particles. Microscopic images of the particles are taken to verify the accuracy of measurements with DIH. The results measured from DIH are in good agreements with results from microscopic images.

Inkjet technology being an essential tool features high resolution and wide applicability. The generation of stable droplets is of great significance in many applications including 3D printing, solar cells and drug delivery. A stable ejected droplet can be a single droplet without satellite droplets (Situation 1), or a single primary droplet with a satellite that merges into the primary later (Situation 2). The deformation process of a stable droplet is directly related to accuracy and efficiency of the droplet delivery. In this paper, we adopt computational fluid dynamics to investigate deformation of a moving stable micro-droplet. It is found that as the driving force rises, the ejected droplets change from Situation 1 to Situation 2, and then to the unstable state after the driving force exceeds a critical value. In the meantime, the maximum deformation of the droplet firstly increases, and then decreases followed by a further increase. The minimum deformation undergoes a converse transition. It further reveals that two essential points of the maximum deformation curves, the peak point (within Situation 1) and the transition point (from Situation 1 to Situation 2), are correlated with ratio of the droplet velocity to the Capillary velocity. The peak point has a ratio between 2.7 and 3.1, and the transition point locates where the ratio plus a constant equals 3.4. New control methods have proposed based on the locations of the maximum deformation extent.

Droplet evaporation is a complex phase change process with a wide range of cooling applications, such as spray cooling and dropwise hotspot cooling in microelectronics, to name a few. The hybrid nanofluid droplet evaporation and its residue effects on evaporation of the subsequent hybrid nanofluid droplet is investigated in this research. Silver-graphene (Ag-GNP) hybrid nanofluid exhibiting synergistic thermal properties is investigated and prepared by dispersing silver nanoparticles along with graphene nanoplatelets in water at 0.1% volume fraction and with different mixing ratios, followed by ultrasonication. The evaporation rate and wetting characteristics of a 3 μl volume of Ag-GNP hybrid nanofluid droplet on a copper surface were studied using an optical tensiometer. Once dried, the nanoporous structure of the residue surface was examined using a scanning electron microscope, while the surface roughness was measured using an optical profiler. Experiments were continued to further investigate the evaporation rate and wetting effects of the subsequent Ag-GNP hybrid nanofluid droplet over the residue surface. The results showed improved wetting characteristics, with 88% reduction in initial static contact angle and 163–196% enhancement in evaporation rate of the subsequent Ag-GNP hybrid nanofluid droplets over the residue surfaces as compared to the copper surface.

It is important to make the droplet formation in the printable area for a design of an inkjet device. One of the important variables for the inkjet is an ejecting velocity which can be controlled by the inkjet device. When the drop-on-demand inkjet nozzle is used, unless the ejecting velocity exceeds the minimum velocity, the droplet may not be ejected or the nozzle surface can be wet, thus the next droplet formation may fail. On the other hand, if the droplet velocity is too fast, splashing may happen when the drop impacts on a substrate, which makes the undesirable printing error. The falling velocity of the inkjet droplet changes by the drag force of air along the falling distance. Therefore, it is required to estimate the exact ejecting, falling and terminal velocity of the inkjet droplet. We measured the inkjet droplet velocity ejecting from the nozzle of a piezoelectric drop-on-demand inkjet device with a push mode. The nozzle diameter was 70 μm and polyethylene glycol aqueous solution was used as ink. The inkjet droplets were generated within a range of 500 to 10,000 Hz of frequencies at a reference piezoelectric input voltage. The successive inkjet droplets were captured by the high-speed camera with 100,000 fps, then the inkjet droplet velocities were analyzed visually at each falling location. The initial to terminal velocity changes of the droplets were calculated theoretically to be compared with the experimental results according to the diameter of the droplet, the drag coefficient, and the Reynolds number. The general terminal velocity of the droplet is determined by the density and diameter of the droplet. However, this study confirmed that the terminal velocity of the continuously ejected droplets by the drop-on-demand inkjet was determined by the interval of the droplets which depended on the frequency. The inkjet droplet in the low frequency has the long interval that is enough to consider as an independent droplet so that it can follow the terminal velocity curve of the general droplet. However, with increasing the frequency, the inkjet droplets are generated frequently and its interval gets shorter, and then its terminal velocity is relatively high not following the general terminal velocity curve. It is considered that each droplet gets into the wake field of the former droplet so that its drag force can decrease and the velocity can increase. We analyzed the velocity change of the inkjet droplet according to its diameter and frequency based on the experimental and numerical results.

Condensation phenomenon has been studied actively for decades because of its extensive and significant applications in various fields of technology and engineering. The condensation phenomenon of condensable component in supersonic flows is still not understood very well as a result of the complex nucleation and droplet growth process, especially the condensation characteristic of gas mixture. In this paper, the Laval nozzle was designed based on the bi-cubic curve, state equation of real gas, arc plus straight line and viscous correction of boundary layer. The physical and mathematical models were developed to predict the condensation process in the supersonic air flows based on the nucleation and droplet growth theories, surface tension model and gas-liquid governing equations. The condensation processes of gaseous water/air binary (single condensable) gas and water/ethanol/air ternary (double condensable) gas mixture in the designed nozzle were simulated, and the reliability of the established models was verified by the experimental data. By comparing the condensation process of water/air binary gas with water/ethanol ternary gas, the influence of the second condensable component on the condensation process was analyzed. The results show that in the condensation process of gaseous water, as the pressure and temperature of water vapor decrease in the nozzle, spontaneous condensation occurs further downstream the nozzle throat. The nucleation rate grows rapidly from 0 to peak in a very short distance. With the consumption of water vapor, due to the decrease of the degree of supercooling, the nucleation environment is destroyed, and the nucleation rate quickly decreases to 0. The nucleation process is rapid in time and space, while the droplet growth process could maintain longer. The droplet number and mass fraction increase continuously till the nozzle outlet. There is a weak condensation in the nozzle due to the release of latent heat, but it is not obvious because the air acts as a heat container and absorbs the latent heat released by condensation. In the water/ethanol/air ternary system, the ethanol nucleates prior to water vapor. With the increase of supercooling, water vapor also begins to nucleate. In essence, there are two kinds of condensation nuclei (water nuclei and ethanol nuclei), and both the water and ethanol vapor can aggregate on these two kinds of condensation nuclei. Compared with the condensation process of water, the Wilson point of condensation is closer to the throat and the outlet mass fraction of liquid phase is greater in the condensation process of water/ethanol mixture, which shows that the water and ethanol can affect and promote each other. The maximum nucleation rate, droplet growth rate, droplet radius and outlet mass fraction of liquid phase of water/air binary and water/ethanol/air ternary mixture are about 9.46 × 10 26 m −3 s −1 and 2.57 × 10 27 m −3 s −1 , 1.65 × 10 −5 m/s and 1.02 × 10 −5 m/s, 1.32 × 10 −7 m and 1.63 × 10 −7 m, 0.19% and 1.34%, respectively.

Impinging-jet injectors are commonly used in liquid propellant rocket engines. Two cylindrical liquid jets impinge at a certain angle and form a liquid sheet in the plane normal to the jets. When the Reynolds and Weber numbers are large, the liquid sheet becomes unstable and disintegrates into liquid ligaments and droplets. In the present study, we focus on cases with moderate injection velocities so that the liquid sheet remains unbroken. Detailed numerical simulations are performed using the adaptive multiphase flow solver, Basilisk. The volume-of-fluid method is used to resolve the gas-liquid interface. Grid-refinement studies are conducted to verify the formation of the liquid sheet is accurately captured in simulation. The numerical results are compared to the recent experimental measurement of the sheet thickness distribution by partial coherent interferometry and a good agreement is achieved.