arXiv subjects

Devaraj van der Meer

Publications and source records attributed to Devaraj van der Meer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Impact of boiling liquid droplets: Vapor entrapment suppression

There hardly is a fluid mechanics phenomenon attracting more attention than the impact of a droplet, due to its undeniable beauty, many applications and the numerous challenges it poses. One of the crucial factors turns out to be the cushioning effect of the gas surrounding the droplet. This fact, together with the observation that almost all of the relevant literature was done in air, triggers the question what would happen when the liquid was a boiling liquid, i.e., a liquid in thermal equilibrium with its own vapor, as is the case during transport of cryogenic liquids such as liquid hydrogen. To investigate precisely this question, we experimentally generate droplets in thermodynamical equilibrium with their own vapor, even before impact, such that minute energy exchanges of the droplet with its surroundings can trigger phase change. Using a frustrated total internal reflection (TIR) setup, we make the exciting observation that depending on the impact speed and vapor conditions, the entrapment of vapor can be completely suppressed under boiling liquid conditions. We create a simplified model based on scaling arguments and perform numerical simulations considering both the compressible and condensable properties of the vapor layer that are in very good agreement with our experimental findings. Our results can be of great consequence to the pressures exerted during droplet impact and on an industrial scale may help better understand the loads experienced during sloshing wave impact inside cryogenic liquid containers.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Dynamic pressure enhancement upon disk impact on a boiling liquid

We experimentally investigate the impact of a flat, horizontal disk onto a boiling liquid, i.e., a liquid in thermal equilibrium with its vapor phase. We observe exceptionally high impact pressures deviating strongly from the inertial scaling found for impact in a non-condensable environment, coinciding with the rapid collapse of the vapor pocket entrapped below the disk. We explain our findings, which are relevant for the safe transportation of cryogenic fuels, as a result of vapor condensation, leading to accelerated vapor pocket contraction at high impact velocity and low vapor density.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Disk impact on a boiling liquid: Dynamics of the entrapped vapor pocket

Upon the impact of a flat disk on a boiling liquid, i.e., a liquid that is in thermal equilibrium with its own vapor, a thin vapor layer is entrapped under the disk. Due to the tendency of vapor to undergo phase change under pressure variation upon impact, the dynamics of this entrapped vapor pocket are different from those of a non-condensable air pocket. In this work, we experimentally investigate the dynamics of the entrapped vapor pocket, more specifically its time evolution and its subsequent influence on the hydrodynamic loads at different equilibrium ambient temperatures and impact velocities. We find that the retraction of the vapor pocket at high ambient temperature and small impact velocity is slow, occurring from the disk edge, and driven by the dynamic pressure $ρ_{\text{L}}U_0^2$. In contrast, at lower ambient temperatures and large impact velocities, after a short initial stage, the vapor pocket will collapse rapidly due to condensation. This scenario is confirmed by conducting experiments where, by heating the disk, the vapor pocket collapse is observed to slow down. We attribute this to the vaporization of liquid near the three-phase contact line region that frustrates the condensation process and reduces the impact pressure on the disk. The violent collapse of the vapor pocket may impart additional instantaneous momentum, but the overall pressure and force impulses are still found to be closely associated with the liquid added mass. Finally, we found that at a high tilt angle of the disk, the three-phase contact line movement over the disk surface may hinder the proper entrapment and compression of the vapor pocket, which results in a lower central impact pressure as rapid condensation at the central disk region does not occur.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2025

Short-Time Force Response during the Impact of a Droplet with Gas Bubbles

The presence of gas or vapour bubbles may strongly influence the forces that occur during the impact of a liquid mass onto a solid. Here, we study this effect numerically, in a well-controlled manner, by simulating the short-time interaction between an impacting droplet and a solid surface, mediated by the gas layer between droplet and solid just before collision, in the presence and absence of bubbles. A boundary integral method is used to simulate the falling droplet, the mediating air layer is modeled using lubrication theory, whereas uniform gas bubbles are added to the droplet that obey a polytropic equation of state. We show that the presence of gas bubbles inside the droplet can have a significant influence on the force exerted on the substrate, even before touchdown. This is due to the transmission of load from the solid, through the gas layer and finally into the bubbly droplet, buffering the impact. We simulate different bubble configurations, modifying their number, size, shape and initial position. It is found that larger bubbles, as well as those close to the impact zone, dampen the collision more as compared to small bubbles or the ones that are far from the droplet's surface. In addition, multiple small bubbles are shown to have a similar or even greater effect as a single large bubble.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2024

Transmission of a Pressure Signal through a Confined Bubble Array

Pressure changes travel at an infinite sound speed in an incompressible ideal fluid, opposite to what happens in a bubbly liquid, where the presence of bubbles adds compressibility such that the sound speed becomes finite. Here, the transmission of a pressure signal through a confined bubble array is studied numerically. An axisymmetric Boundary Integral (BI) code was used to simulate a horizontal array of spherical bubbles inside a cylindrical container. On one end of the container, a piston is able to move in either a sinusoidal or impulsive way to excite the bubbles, whereas the other end of the cylinder is fixed. A one-dimensional model, hereafter called the Multiple Bagnold Problem (MBP) model, was developed to predict the behavior of the 3D system. A good agreement between the model and the simulations was found for initial excitation times and qualitatively good agreement for later times. The MBP model was subsequently used to obtain an expression for the sound speed in monodisperse systems, which depends on the ratio between the driving and the natural bubble frequency. Two regimes were found, one where the pressure signal travels unattenuated and the other where attenuation is present. Subsequently we turn to more complex, bidisperse systems, where the influence of the presence of bubbles of two different sizes is explored. Analytical expressions to predict the eigenfrequencies were obtained for monodisperse and bidisperse alternating systems. For bidisperse stacked systems the eigenfrequencies were computed numerically giving a good agreement with the MBP simulations. Finally, we discuss the propagation of a pressure signal through a polydisperse system.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Clogging of non-cohesive suspensions through constrictions using an efficient unresolved CFD-DEM solver

When objects are forced to flow through constrictions their transport can be frustrated temporarily or permanently due to the formation of arches in the region of the bottleneck. While such systems have been intensively studied in the case of solid particles in a gas phase being forced by gravitational forces, the case of solid particles suspended in a liquid phase, forced by the liquid itself, has received much less attention. In this case, the influence of the liquid flow on the transport efficiency is not well understood yet, leading to several apparently trivial, but yet unanswered questions, e.g., would an increase of the liquid flow improve the transport of particles or worsen it? Although some experimental data is already available, it lacks enough detail to give a complete answer to such a question. Numerical models would be needed to scrutinize the system deeper. In this paper, we study this system making use of an advanced discrete particle solver (MercuryDPM) and an approximated numerical model for the liquid drag and compare the results with experimental data.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Diffusive and convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in a vertical cylindrical cell

The dissolution and subsequent mass transfer of carbon dioxide gas into liquid barriers plays a vital role in many environmental and industrial applications. In this work, we study the downward dissolution and propagation dynamics of CO2 into a vertical water barrier confined to a narrow vertical glass cylinder, using both experiments and direct numerical simulations. Initially, the dissolution of CO2 results in the formation of a CO2-rich water layer, which is denser in comparison to pure water, at the top gas-liquid interface. Continued dissolution of CO2 into the water barrier results in the layer becoming gravitationally unstable, leading to the onset of buoyancy driven convection and, consequently, the shedding of a buoyant plume. By adding sodium fluorescein, a pH-sensitive fluorophore, we directly visualise the dissolution and propagation of the CO2 across the liquid barrier. Tracking the CO2 front propagation in time results in the discovery of two distinct transport regimes, a purely diffusive regime and an enhanced diffusive regime. Using direct numerical simulations, we are able to successfully explain the propagation dynamics of these two transport regimes in this laterally strongly confined geometry, namely by disentangling the contributions of diffusion and convection to the propagation of the CO2 front.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2023

Autothermotaxis of volatile drops

When a drop of a volatile liquid is deposited on a uniformly heated wettable, thermally conducting substrate, one expects to see it spread into a thin film and evaporate. Contrary to this intuition, due to thermal Marangoni contraction the deposited drop contracts into a spherical-cap-shaped puddle, with a finite apparent contact angle. Strikingly, this contracted droplet, above a threshold temperature, well below the boiling point of the liquid, starts to spontaneously move on the substrate in an apparently erratic way. We describe and quantify this self-propulsion of the volatile drop. It arises due to spontaneous symmetry breaking of thermal-Marangoni convection, which is induced by the non-uniform evaporation of the droplet. Using infra-red imaging, we reveal the characteristic interfacial flow patterns associated with the Marangoni convection in the evaporating drop. A scaling relation describes the correlation between the moving velocity of the drop and the apparent contact angle, both of which increase with the substrate temperature.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2022

Controlled and impulsive compression of an entrapped air bubble during impact

Wave slamming onto a structure is often accompanied by the entrapment of an air pocket. A large scale impact typically has a rapidly evolving and disturbed liquid-gas interface, such that several bubbles are entrapped upon impact. While it is largely understood how the peak pressure is created by liquid coming into contact with the solid structure, it is more challenging to ascertain how an isolated air pocket is pressurised by an impulsive impact, and how the maximum impact pressure inside this bubble evolves. We study such a Bagnold-type impulsive compression of an air bubble by performing well-controlled experiments, where we use an inverted, hollow cone as an impactor. The cone is kept immersed throughout in a water bath, such that it encloses an air bubble of known and controlled volume. A high-sensitivity sensor measures pressures at the vertex of the cone. Using high-speed imaging we show how incoming liquid deforms the air bubble enclosed in such a geometry, and how an impact peak is registered inside the bubble, which can be traced back to the impact of a liquid jet onto the pressure sensor. We compare the measured pressures to a Bagnold model, and discuss the dominant resonances in the bubble. From visualisations of the deforming bubble, we also discuss the air-pocket's deformations, resulting from the presence of surrounding rigid geometry (such as corrugations in an LNG containment membrane).

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

On wedge-slamming pressures

The water entry of a wedge has become a model test in marine and naval engineering research. Wagner theory, originating in 1932, predicts impact pressures, and accounts for contributions to the total pressure arising from various flow domains in the vicinity of the wetting region on the wedge. Here we study the slamming of a wedge and a cone at a constant, well-controlled velocity throughout the impact event using high fidelity sensors. Pressures at two locations on the impactor are measured during and after impact. Pressure time series from the two impactors are discussed using inertial pressure and time scales. The non-dimensionalised pressure time series are compared to sensor-integrated averaged composite Wagner solutions (Zhao & Faltinsen 1993), Logvinovich (1969, 4.7), modified Logvinovich (Korobkin & Malenica 2005) and generalised Wagner models (Korobkin 2004). In addition, we provide an independent experimental justification of approximations made in the literature in extending the Wagner model to three-dimensions. The second part of the paper deals with pre-impact air cushioning -- an important concern since it is responsible for determining the thickness of air layer trapped upon impact. Using a custom-made technique we measure the air-water interface dynamics as it responds to the build up of pressure in the air layer intervening in between the impactor and the free surface. We show both experimentally and using two-fluid boundary integral (BI) simulations, that the pre-impact deflection of the interface due to air-cushioning is fully described by potential flow.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Linear stability analysis of a time-divergent slamming flow

When a liquid slams into a solid, the intermediate gas is squeezed out at a speed that diverges when approaching the moment of impact. Although there is mounting experimental evidence that instabilities form on the liquid interface during such an event, understanding of the nature of these instabilities is limited. This study therefore addresses the stability of a liquid-gas interface with surface tension, subject to a diverging flow in the gas phase, where the liquid and the gas phase are both represented as potential fluids. We perform a Kelvin-Helmholtz-type linear modal stability analysis of the surface to obtain an amplitude equation that is subsequently analysed in detail and applied to two cases of interest for impact problems, namely, the parallel impact of a wave onto a vertical wall, and the impact of a horizontal plate onto a liquid surface. In both cases we find that long wavelengths are stabilised considerably in comparison to what may be expected based upon classical knowledge of the stability of interfaces subject to a constant gas flow. In the former case, this leads to the prediction of a marginally stable wavelength that is completely absent in the classical analysis. For the latter we find much resemblance to the classical case, with the connotation that the instability is suppressed for smaller disk sizes. The study ends with a discussion of the influence of gas viscosity and gas compressibility on the respective stability diagrams.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Slug bubble growth and dissolution by solute exchange

In many environmental and industrial applications, the mass transfer of gases in liquid solvents is a fundamental process during the generation of bubbles for specific purposes or, vice versa, the removal of entrapped bubbles. We address the growth dynamics of a trapped slug bubble in a vertical glass cylinder under a water barrier. In the studied process, the ambient air atmosphere is replaced by a CO$_2$ atmosphere at the same or higher pressure. The asymmetric exchange of the gaseous solutes between the CO$_2$-rich water barrier and the air-rich bubble always results in net bubble growth. We refer to this process as solute exchange. The dominant transport of CO$_2$ across the water barrier is driven by a combination of diffusion and convective dissolution. The experimental results are compared to and explained with a simple numerical model, with which the underlying mass transport processes are quantified. Analytical solutions that accurately predict the bubble growth dynamics are subsequently derived. The effect of convective dissolution across the water layer is treated as a reduction of the effective diffusion length, in accordance with the mass transfer scaling observed in laminar or natural convection. Finally, the binary water-bubble system is extended to a ternary water-bubble-alkane system. It is found that the alkane (n-hexadecane) layer bestows a buffering (hindering) effect on bubble growth and dissolution. The resulting growth dynamics and underlying fluxes are characterised theoretically.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Total-internal-reflection deflectometry for measuring small deflections of a fluid surface

We describe a method that uses total internal reflection at the water-air interface inside a large, transparent tank, to measure the interface's deflections. Using this configuration, we obtain an optical set-up where the liquid surface acts as a deformable mirror. The set-up is shown to be extremely sensitive to very small disturbances of the reflecting water surface, which are detected by means of visualising the reflections of a reference pattern. When the water surface is deformed, it reflects a distorted image of the reference pattern, similar to a synthetic Schlieren set-up. The distortions of the pattern are analysed using a suitable image correlation method. The displacement fields thus obtained correlate to the local spatial gradients of the water surface. The gradient fields are integrated in a least-squares sense to obtain a full instantaneous reconstruction of the water surface. This method is particularly useful when a solid object is placed just above water surface, whose presence makes the liquid surface otherwise optically inaccessible.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Air Entrapment and its effect on Pressure Impulses in the slamming of a Flat Disc on Water

The presence of ambient air in liquid-slamming events plays a crucial role in influencing the shape of the liquid surface prior to the impact, and the distribution of loads created upon impact. We study the effect of trapped air on impact loads in a simplified geometry, by slamming a horizontal flat disc onto a stationary water bath at a well-controlled velocity. We show how air trapping influences pressure peaks at different radial locations on the disc, how the pressure impulses are affected, and how local pressure impulses differ from those obtained from area-integrated (force) impulses at impact. More specifically, we find that the air layer causes a gradual buildup of the load before the peak value is reached, and show that this buildup follows inertial scaling. Further, the same localised pressure impulse at the disc centre are found to be lower than the corresponding (area-integrated) force impulse on the entire disc. While the (area-integrated) force impulses are close to the classical result of Batchelor (1967, section 6.10) and Glasheen & McMahon (1996), the localised pressure impulses at disc center, where the trapped air layer is at its thickest, are found to lie closer to the theoretical estimation by Peters et al. (2013) for an air-cushioned impact.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Air-cushioning effect and Kelvin-Helmholtz instability before the slamming of a disk on water

The macroscopic dynamics of a droplet impacting a solid is crucially determined by the intricate air dynamics occurring at the vanishingly small length scale between droplet and substrate prior to direct contact. Here we investigate the inverse problem, namely the role of air for the impact of a horizontal flat disk onto a liquid surface, and find an equally significant effect. Using an in-house experimental technique, we measure the free surface deflections just before impact, with a precision of a few micrometers. Whereas stagnation pressure pushes down the surface in the center, we observe a lift-up under the edge of the disk, which sets in at a later stage, and which we show to be consistent with a Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of the water-air interface.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Impact of a microfluidic jet onto a pendant droplet

High speed microfluidic jets can be generated by a thermocavitation process: from the evaporation of the liquid inside a microfluidic channel, a rapidly expanding bubble is formed and generates a jet through a flow focusing effect. Here, we study the impact and traversing of such jets on a pendant liquid droplet. Upon impact, an expanding cavity is created, and, above a critical impact velocity, the jet traverses the entire droplet. We predict the critical traversing velocity (i) from a simple energy balance and (ii) by comparing the Young-Laplace and dynamic pressures in the cavity that is created during impact. We contrast the model predictions against experiments, in which we vary the liquid properties of the pendant droplet and find good agreement. In addition, we asses how surfactants and viscoelastic effects influence the critical impact velocity. Our results are relevant for the study of needle-free injections, where jets of similar velocities and dimensions are being used. Given the simplicity of our system we can systematically vary the target properties and unravel their effect on the impact dynamics, a true challenge when injecting into real skin.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Higher-order meniscus oscillations driven by flow-focusing leading to bubble pinch off and entrainment in a piezo acoustic inkjet nozzle

The stability of high-end piezo-acoustic drop-on-demand (DOD) inkjet printing is sometimes compromised by the entrainment of an air bubble inside the ink channel. Here, bubble pinch-off from an acoustically driven meniscus is studied in an optically transparent DOD printhead as a function of the driving waveform. We show that bubble pinch-off follows from low-amplitude higher-order meniscus oscillations on top of the global high-amplitude meniscus motion that drives droplet formation. In a certain window of control parameters, phase inversion between the low and high frequency components leads to the enclosure of an air cavity and bubble pinch-off. Although phenomenologically similar, bubble pinch-off is not a result of capillary wave interaction such as observed in drop impact on a liquid pool. Instead, we reveal geometrical flow focusing as the mechanism through which at first, an outward jet is formed on the retracted concave meniscus. When the subsequent high-frequency pressure wave hits the now toroidal-shaped meniscus, it accelerates the toroidal ring outward resulting in the formation of an air cavity that can pinch off. The critical control parameters for pinch off are the pulse timing and amplitude. To cure the bubble entrainment problem, the threshold for bubble pinch-off can be increased by suppressing the high frequency acoustic waves through appropriate waveform design. The present work therefore aids the improvement of the stability of inkjet printers through a physical understanding of meniscus instabilities.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2021

Hydrogel sphere impact cratering, spreading and bouncing on granular media

The impact of a hydrogel sphere onto a granular target results in both the deformation of the sphere and the formation of a prominent topographic feature known as impact crater on the granular surface. We investigate the crater formation and scaling, together with the spreading diameter and post-impact dynamics of the spheres by performing a series of experiments, varying the Young's modulus $Y$ and impact speed $U_{0}$ of the hydrogel spheres, and the packing fraction and grain size of the granular target. We determine how the crater diameter and depth depend on $Y$ and find the data to be consistent with those from earlier experiments using droplets and hard spheres. Most specifically, we find that the crater diameter data are consistent with a power law, where the power exponent changes more sharply when $Y$ becomes less than $200$ Pa. Next, we introduce an estimate for the portion of the impact kinetic energy that is stored in elastic energy during impact, and thus correct the energy that remains available for crater formation. Subsequently, we determine the deformation of the hydrogel sphere and find that the normalized spreading diameter data are well collapsed introducing an equivalent velocity from an energy balance of the the initial kinetic energy against surface and elastic energy. Finally, we observe that under certain intermediate values for the Young's modulus and impact velocities, the particles rebound from the impact crater. We determine the phase diagram and explain our findings from a comparison of the elastocapillary spreading time and the impact duration.

cond-mat.soft↗