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Updated: May 16, 2026

Fast Imaging Technique to Study Drop Impact Dynamics of Non-Newtonian Fluids
Published on: March 5, 2014
Experimental observation of von Kármán vortices during drop impact
A A Castrejón-Pita1, J R Castrejón-Pita, I M Hutchings
1Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 17 Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK.
Abstract:
The observation of von Kármán type vortices during the impact of water droplets onto a pool of water is reported. Shadowgraph imaging and laser-sheet visualization are used to document these events. The appearance of these vortices occurs within theoretically predicted regions in a Reynolds-splash number parameter space. In addition, and also in agreement with theoretical predictions, smooth splashing, with vortices absent, is found for smaller Reynolds number.
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