Liquid jet breakup and subsequent droplet dynamics under normal gravity and in microgravity conditions

We present an experimental study on the characteristics of liquid jets in different configurations. We consider jets injected perpendicular to gravity, jets injected parallel to gravity, and jets injected in a microgravity environment. We study the role played by gravity in the jet breakup length and in the dynamics of the droplets generated after breakup. We analyze droplets obtained in the dripping and jetting regimes, focusing the study on their size, trajectory, oscillation and rotation. The particularities of the considered injection configurations are analyzed. In normal gravity conditions, in the dripping and jetting regimes, the breakup length increases with the Weber number. The transition between these regimes occurs at Wecr ≈ 3.2. Droplets are notably larger in the dripping regime than in the jetting one. In the latter case, droplet mean size decreases as the liquid flow rate is increased. In microgravity conditions, droplet trajectories form a conical shape due to droplet bouncing after collision. When a collision takes place, coalescence tends to occur at low modified Weber numbers (Wem < 2), while bouncing is observed at higher values (Wem > 2). The surface of a droplet oscillates after bouncing or coalescence events, following a damped oscillator behavior. The observed oscillation frequency agrees with theoretical predictions.