Collision of two drops moving in the same direction

Abstract

The collision dynamics of two drops of the same liquid moving in the same direction has been studied numerically. A wide range of radius ratios of trailing drop and leading drop ($R_r$) and the velocity ratios ($U_r$) have been deployed to understand the collision outcomes. A volume of fluid (VOF) based open-source fluid flow solver, Basilisk, has been used with its adaptive mesh refinement feature to capture the nuances of the interface morphology. The simulations are analyzed for the evolving time instances. Different collision outcomes, such as coalescence and reflexive separation with and without the formation of satellite drops, have been observed for various combinations of $U_r$ and $R_r$. The study analyzes the evolution of kinetic energy and surface energy before and after the collision for plausible outcomes. The collision outcomes are depicted on a regime map with $U_r-R_r$ space, highlighting distinct regimes formed due to variations in relevant governing parameters.