A many-body dissipative particle dynamics study of eccentric droplets impacting inclined fiber

The phenomenon of droplets impacting fiber has important applications in the recovery of waste liquid, separation of solid and liquid phases, gas and liquid phases, and glass wool manufacturing. This study explored the impact of droplets on fiber based on the many-body dissipative particle dynamics (MDPD) method. First, the impact of droplets on fiber at different angles was simulated, and the results were found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. We then investigated the influence of droplet eccentricity, fiber tilt angle, and wettability on the collision results and found that droplet critical velocity V*, wetting length L, contact time t, and droplet capture rate all increased with tilt angle and decreased with the increase in eccentricity. In addition, fiber wettability had little effect on contact time t but had a greater effect on critical velocity V*. Except for hydrophobicity, wettability also had little effect on droplet capture rate. The theoretical derivation obtained the analytical formulas of critical velocity V*, dimensionless wetting length L*, and dimensionless contact time t* when the eccentric droplet hits the inclined fiber. The simulation results are highly consistent with the theoretical values. This research possesses important guiding significance for actual production and life.