Bubble dynamics and atomization of acoustically levitated diesel and biodiesel droplets using femtosecond laser pulses

Vishal S Jagadale; Devendra Deshmukh; Dag Hanstorp; Yogeshwar Nath Mishra

doi:10.1038/s41598-024-57802-8

Bubble dynamics and atomization of acoustically levitated diesel and biodiesel droplets using femtosecond laser pulses

Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 9;14(1):8285. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-57802-8.

Authors

Vishal S Jagadale¹, Devendra Deshmukh¹, Dag Hanstorp², Yogeshwar Nath Mishra^{3

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Affiliations

¹ Spray and Combustion Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, MP, 453552, India.
² Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 41296, Gothenburg, Sweden. dag.hanstorp@physics.gu.se.
³ Spray and Combustion Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Indore, Indore, MP, 453552, India. mishra@caltech.edu.
⁴ Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, 41296, Gothenburg, Sweden. mishra@caltech.edu.
⁵ NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA. mishra@caltech.edu.
⁶ Currently with Visual Computing Center, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. mishra@caltech.edu.

Abstract

This study focuses on the bubble dynamics and associated breakup of individual droplets of diesel and biodiesel under the influence of femtosecond laser pulses. The bubble dynamics were examined by suspending the droplets in the air through an acoustically levitated setup. The laser pulse energies ranged from 25 to 1050 µJ, and droplet diameters varied between 0.25 and 1.5 mm. High-speed shadowgraphy was employed to examine the influence of femtosecond laser intensity and multiple laser pulses on various spatial-temporal parameters. Four distinct sequences of regimes have been identified, depending on early and late times: bubble creation by individual laser pulses, coalescence, bubble rupture and expansion, and droplet fragmentation. At all laser intensities, early-time dynamics showed only bubble generation, while specifically at higher intensities, late-time dynamics revealed droplet breaking. The droplet breakup is further categorized into three mechanisms: steady sheet collapse, unstable sheet breakup, and catastrophic breakup, all following a well-known ligament and secondary breakup process. The study reveals that laser pulses with high repetition rates and moderate laser energy were the optimal choice for precise bubble control and cutting.

Abstract

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