title: Raindrop impact on sand: a dynamic explanation of crater morphologies.
abstract: As a droplet impacts upon a granular substrate, both the intruder and the target undergo deformation, during which the liquid may penetrate into the substrate. These three aspects together distinguish it from other impact phenomena in the literature. We perform high-speed, double-laser profilometry measurements and disentangle the dynamics into three aspects: the deformation of the substrate during the impact, the maximum spreading diameter of the droplet, and the penetration of the liquid into the substrate. By systematically varying the impact speed and the packing fraction of the substrate, (i) the substrate deformation indicates a critical packing fraction ϕ* ≈ 0.585; (ii) the maximum droplet spreading diameter is found to scale with a Weber number corrected by the substrate deformation; and (iii) a model of the liquid penetration is established and is used to explain the observed crater morphology transition.
authors.affiliation: Physics of Fluids Group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, and J.M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands. s.zhao@utwente.nl d.vandermeer@utwente.nl.
authors.forename: Song-Chuan
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Rianne
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Devaraj
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: van der Meer
mesh_terms: D002627:Chemistry, Physical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D011891:Rain; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D012822:Silicon Dioxide