Computational Study of Bouncing and Non-bouncing Droplets Impacting on Superhydrophobic Surfaces

TL;DR

This study uses a validated computational model to analyze droplet impact dynamics on superhydrophobic surfaces, revealing energy conditions that determine bouncing versus non-bouncing behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a finite-element simulation approach with accurate interface tracking to predict droplet bouncing behavior on superhydrophobic surfaces, validated against experimental data.

Findings

Droplets bounce if total energy exceeds initial surface and gravitational energy.

Non-bouncing droplets exhibit oscillations due to energy competition.

Simulation results agree well with experimental measurements.

Abstract

We numerically investigate bouncing and non-bouncing of droplets during isothermal impact on superhydrophobic surfaces. An in-house, experimentally-validated, finite-element method based computational model is employed to simulate the droplet impact dynamics and transient fluid flow within the droplet. The liquid-gas interface is tracked accurately in Lagrangian framework with dynamic wetting boundary condition at three-phase contact line. The interplay of kinetic, surface and gravitational energies is investigated via systematic variation of impact velocity and equilibrium contact angle. The numerical simulations demonstrate that the droplet bounces off the surface if the total droplet energy at the instance of maximum recoiling exceeds the initial surface and gravitational energy, otherwise not. The non-bouncing droplet is characterized by the oscillations on the free surface due to competition between the kinetic and surface energy. The droplet dimensions and shapes obtained at different times by the simulations are compared with the respective measurements available in the literature. Comparisons show good agreement of numerical data with measurements and the computational model is able to reconstruct the bouncing and non-bouncing of the droplet as seen in the measurements. The simulated internal flow helps to understand the impact dynamics as well as the interplay of the associated energies during the bouncing and non-bouncing.