Predicting Leidenfrost Temperature and Effects of Impact Conditions on Droplet Size Distribution in Film-Boiling Regime

Abstract The interaction of a droplet with a solid wall is relevant in various engineering applications. The properties of the resulting secondary droplets are determined by the wall temperature, ambient pressure, impact momentum, and impact angle. This paper presents a comprehensive characterization of drop–wall interactions and the subsequent atomization as a function of the combined effects of such parameters. A drop–wall interaction model is derived for F-24 liquid fuel droplets using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). F-24 is a derivative of Jet-A aviation fuel with military additives, and it is the focus of this study due to its common use in military applications. The model can predict different impact outcome regimes (deposition, rebound, contact-splash, and film-splash) for different ambient pressures, wall temperatures, and impact parameters. The model also addresses the effect of ambient pressure on the Leidenfrost behavior. Size distributions of secondary droplets are compared for vertical and nonvertical impacts of F-24 droplets on superheated surfaces in the film-boiling regime. The nondimensional Sauter mean diameter (SMD) of the secondary droplets varies based on the position in the impact plane for all the nonvertical impacts but remains almost unchanged for vertical impacts. The zone of leading direction for nonvertical impact consists of larger secondary droplets, and the size decreases toward the zone of trailing direction. An empirical relation is proposed to represent this trend. This research sheds light on successive droplet impacts by studying the effects of impact frequency on SMD evolution. The results are compared to single droplet impact cases for different fuels and Weber numbers. The size of secondary droplets for successive impacts is observed to be nearly indistinguishable from that of single droplet vertical impacts.