Studying the impact characteristics of spray droplets on plant surfaces using a multiphase CFD model

peer reviewedThe impact characteristics of spray droplets on plant surfaces was investigated based on a multiphase computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model using the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) approach. The contact angle of the droplet on different surfaces was measured and included as a model parameter. The model was validated using experimental results that were conducted on different plant surfaces (apple, pear, cabbage and leek) and the model was applied to study the effect of droplet impact velocity, droplet diameter, formulation and surface topology on droplet impact characteristics. For each combination of model parameters, the model was capable of predicting the droplet impact outcome (adherence, rebound, splash and shattering). The results showed that multiphase CFD model has a capacity to predict the behavior of plant protection mixture droplets at impact on target surfaces