Measurements and modelling of the residual mass upon impact of supercooled liquid drops

The mass of liquid remaining on a substrate following a drop impact is a crucial quantity for modelling of numerous phenomena, e.g. spray cooling, spray coating or aircraft icing. In the present study, a method to measure this residual mass after impact of liquid drops is introduced. This method is also applicable to supercooled drops, which may freeze upon impact on cold surfaces. Using the data obtained from extensive measurements in which the size, impact speed and temperature of the drops was varied, a modelling of the residual mass is formulated, following closely the theory of Riboux and Gordillo (Phys Rev Lett 113(2):024507, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.024507). A key adaptation of this model accounts for the deformation of drops immediately prior to impact. This modified theoretical model results in very good agreement with experiments, allowing prediction of residual mass for a given impact situation.