Comparative Analysis of Interaction Modes of Two Droplets and of a Large Population in an Aerosol Cloud

Abstract

A comparative analysis of experimental results obtained by various investigators using two different experimental approaches is presented: the phenomenological approach (the detection of conditions, characteristics, and modes of interaction between a projectile droplet and a target droplet) and the statistical approach (the analysis of collisions of tens and even hundreds of liquid droplets as a part of an aerosol). The ranges of values of the Weber criterion (the basic parameter used for analyzing the effects of collisions of droplets in a gaseous medium), which correspond to recoil, coagulation, expansion, and fragmentation are established according to the results of all experimental works considered.