Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, Vol.243, 38-46, 2017
Impact of viscoelastic droplets
We conduct numerical experiments on viscoelastic droplets hitting a flat solid surface. The results present time-resolved non-Newtonian stresses acting in the droplet. Comparing with the simulation of the impact of a Newtonian droplet, the effects of viscoelasticity on droplet behaviors such as splashing, the maximum spreading diameter and deformation are analyzed. With detailed information on the contact line region, we demonstrate how the contact line behaves according to the transition of the fluid property from elasticity dominated to shear-thinning dominated when a droplet expands and contracts on the substrate. The propose of this work is to discuss whether and how the elasticity in an impinging droplet takes effect. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.