Droplet penetration through an inclined mesh

TL;DR

This study investigates how droplet impact behavior on inclined meshes varies with impact conditions and mesh inclination, revealing that inclination can suppress penetration and proposing a predictive model validated by experiments.

Contribution

The paper introduces a simple model for predicting droplet penetration thresholds on inclined meshes, validated through extensive high-speed photography experiments.

Findings

Inclining the mesh can completely suppress droplet penetration.

Transition Weber numbers increase with mesh inclination angle.

Both mesh open area and inclination angle influence penetration type.

Abstract

Droplets with different Weber numbers We impacting meshes at various inclination angles were investigated using high-speed photography. It was found that the droplet mesh penetration can be completely suppressed by inclining the mesh. The phase diagrams in the (We, {\alpha}) plane determining the expected type of penetration have been determined experimentally for meshes of various structures. It was shown that the Weber numbers for transition between no-penetration and incomplete penetration as well as for transition between incomplete penetration and complete penetration increase monotonically with {\alpha}. A simple model for predicting the transition thresholds is proposed and is validated by comparisons with experimental results. It is shown that both the inclination angle and the mesh open area fraction determine the type of penetration.