Publications

Mounding of a non-Newtonian jet impinging on a solid substrate

Rao, Rekha R.; Grillet, Anne M.; Schunk, Randy

When a fluid jet impinges on a solid substrate, a variety of behaviors may occur around the impact region. One example is mounding, where the fluid enters the impact region faster than it can flow away, forming a mound of fluid above the main surface. For some operating conditions, this mound can destabilize and buckle, entraining air in the mound. Other behaviors include submerging flow, where the jet impinges into an otherwise steady pool of liquid, entraining a thin air layer as it enters the pool. This impact region is one of very high shear rates and as such, complex fluids behave very differently than do Newtonian fluids. In this work, we attempt to characterize this range of behavior for Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids using dimensionless parameters. We model the fluid as a modified Bingham-Carreau-Yasuda fluid, which exhibits the full range of pseudoplastic flow properties throughout the impact region. Additionally, we study viscoelastic effects through the use of the Giesekus model. Both 2-D and 3-D numerical simulations are performed using a variety of finite element method techniques for tracking the jet interface, including Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (ALE), diffuse level sets, and a conformal decomposition finite element method (CDFEM). The presence of shear-thinning characteristics drastically reduces unstable mounding behavior, yet can lead to air entrainment through the submerging flow regime. We construct an operating map to understand for what flow parameters mounding and submerging flows will occur, and how the fluid rheology affects these behaviors. This study has many implications in high-speed industrial bottle filling applications.