Swirls and splashes: pressure dependence of the airflow created by drop impact

A drop impacting a solid surface with sufficient velocity will splash and emit many small droplets. However, removing the ambient air suppresses splashing completely. The transition between splashing and non-splashing occurs gradually: decreasing the air pressure systematically delays and eventually fully inhibits the occurrence of a splash. The mechanism by which the surrounding gas affects the drop dynamics remains unknown. We use modified Schlieren optics combined with high-speed video imaging to visualize the airflow created by the rapid spreading of the drop after it hits the substrate. We observe the generation of a vortex ring that is initially bound to the outer edge of the spreading liquid and subsequently detaches from the liquid to form a beautiful toroidal vortex sheet that expands and curls up into a roll. We have studied the dynamics of this vortex as a function of gas pressure and find that the sheet gets progressively smaller as the air pressure is decreased. This suggests a weakening of the vortex strength at low pressure.