This is a collaborative research project between Prof. N. Asgriz of SUNY Buffalo (USA) and Prof. A. Manchaca-Rocha of UNAM (Mexico) in the area of collisional dynamics of liquid drops. The objectives are to investigate the influence of drop shape and drop internal circulation, and to develop a criterion for the fragmentation of collided drops. This is a combined computational-experimental study, where the U.S. participant will focus on numerical simulations, and the Mexican counterpart will contribute with the experimental investigation. Several simplifying assumption are adopted in the volume tracking simulations, such as neglecting of the interstitial gas because of high inertial effects. Fundamental understanding of complex droplet collisions for a large range of variation of the collision Weber number, as well as obtaining practical fragmentation correlations, are expected. The project has relevance to a variety of technologies and natural processes, including spray technology, fuel combustion, nuclear physics and rain drop dynamics. This project is in response to the NSF-CONACyT initiative announcement.
