Two-dimensional simulation of stripping breakup of a water droplet

The breakup of a liquid droplet induced by a high-speed gas stream is a known multiphase flow problem. Among various breakup modes of liquid droplets impinged by shock waves, the stripping breakup takes place over a wide range of Weber numbers, from 100 to approximately 20,000. In this study, the evolution of the stripping breakup of a water droplet is simulated by using a multiphase flow solver with a five-equation model. Several test cases such as gas-gas shock tube, water-air shock tube, and underwater explosion problems are performed to validate the present numerical methods. To compare with the experimental results, the water droplets with diameters of 6.4 and 4.8 mm and Mach numbers of 1.3 and 1.47 are chosen in this study. The stripping breakup of a water droplet, including the shape deformation, vortex shedding, unsteady drag force, and flow instability, is investigated. The computed displacement, acceleration, and volume change of the water droplet are in agreement with the experimental data in dimensionless form. The evolution of a water droplet during the stripping breakup for an inviscid flow is presented by How visualization.