Drop breakup and deformation in sudden onset strong flows

This work characterizes the deformation and breakup of a single drop subjected to a sudden onset shear flow. The drop is immersed in a second fluid (the matrix) with which it is immiscible. A cylindrical couette device is used to create a flow field which, in the absence of the drop, would constitute a close approximation of simple shear flow. The magnitude of the imposed shear rate was greater than that which would be necessary to just break the drop.;The experiments conducted were limited to matrix fluid viscosities above 7Pa˙ s and shear rates below 15/s, ensuring that the flows considered were inertialess. The matrix fluid was a corn syrup solution. The drop fluids were polybutadiene, paraffin oil and silicone oil, leading to a range of interfacial tensions. At the shear rates used in these experiments the fluids used Newtonian. Viscosity ratios (drop/matrix) ranging from 0.01 to 1 were considered.;Two breakup mechanisms were observed to contribute to the dispersion of the original drop. In all cases elongative end pinching, defined by this study, caused the ends of a stretching drop to break off and form daughter drops. Breakup due to elongative end pinching was always the first breakup observed. The daughter drops formed by elongative end pinching were always the largest daughter drops formed. In cases when the experimental conditions were sufficiently stronger than the critical conditions (needed to just barely break up the drop), a second type of breakup, capillary wave breakup, was also observed. Measurement of the characteristic time scales and length scales were made of each type of breakup. The lengths (a) were found to scale as capillary numbers: Ca=a mg&d2;/s. The times (t) were found to scale as strains: s=t g.&d2; A qualitative explanation for the capillary number scaling is presented and quantitatively compared to predictions based on small deformation analysis. Additionally the daughter drop size distributions resulting from drop breakup is characterized. These distributions are shown to be dependent on the relative dominance of the two breakup mechanisms observed.