Experimental study on two consecutive droplets impacting onto an inclined solid surface

Abstract The present study is concerned with the experimental impingement of two consecutive droplets on an inclined solid surface. Attention is mainly paid to the effects of impingement timing with various oblique angles (Φ) of the surface on the impact phenomena, which mainly affect the maximum droplet spreading diameter. The investigation considers four impingement scenarios differentiated by impingement timing, namely Case 1: single-droplet impingement; Case 2 of Δt1: the moment when the leading droplet starts spreading along the oblique surface; Case 3 of Δt2: the moment when the leading droplet reaches its maximum spreading; and Case 4 of Δt3: the moment when the leading droplet starts retracting. It is observed that deformation behavior of two successive droplets impacting on the inclined surface experiences a complex asymmetric morphology evolution due to the enhancement of gravity effect and various conditions of the impingement timing. The merged droplet becomes slender with increasing oblique surface angle in the final steady shape, causing the decrease in the value of front and back contact angles. The impingement timing has a significant influence on the change of the maximum height of the merged droplet. The coalesced droplet spreads to the maximum dimensionless width diameter at Δt = Δt2 and the oblique angle of Φ = 45°, but reaches the maximum dimensionless height for Δt = Δt2 at Φ = 30°. The front contact angles converge to a fixed value eventually for all conditions of impingement timing, and the values become lower with the increasing surface inclination.