Impact of airflow-assisted spraying technology on droplet drift: a solution for reducing pesticide drift under...

In agricultural production, pesticide application is often influenced by natural wind, leading to pesticide drift. This reduces the effectiveness of pest and disease control on target crops and poses risks of pesticide damage to nontarget crops, which can result in serious environmental and food contamination issues. This study addresses the issue of droplet drift in complex farmland environments by developing a simulation model that couples auxiliary airflow with multidirectional wind. The model analyzes the complex movement trajectories and dynamic characteristics of droplets within the coupled flow field, identifies the key factors influencing drift under the effect of auxiliary airflow, and adjusts spraying parameters based on different wind directions and speeds to reduce droplet drift.

Numerical simulations were conducted using the optimized auxiliary airflow parameters in multidirectional wind. The results demonstrated that for winds of 3.3 ~ 7.9 m s^-1, the optimized auxiliary airflow significantly reduced both the drift rate and amount of droplets: compared to conventional spraying, the drift rate and amount decreased by 50.6% and 84.9%, respectively; compared to conventional airflow-assisted spraying, they decreased by 11.54% and 49.8%, respectively. Moreover, bench tests validated the simulation model with an error rate of 7.7 ± 0.2%.

Through simulation analysis and adjustment of auxiliary airflow parameters, this study provides a comprehensive understanding of droplet drift behavior under various wind directions and speeds in complex environments. The findings show that adjusting airflow parameters can effectively address pesticide drift in multidirectional wind, reducing pesticide deposition in nontarget areas and minimizing environmental pollution. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry.