LAUSR

Abstract Understanding the dynamics of a single large water droplet is needed for accurate simulations of the in-flight icing phenomenon. Obtaining information on the ratio of ejected to deposited water and the post-impact droplet distribution should improve the numerical modeling of the bulk of impinging droplets. In this study, a weakly compressible multi-phase Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method with shifting algorithm and surface tension model is presented to simulate the single droplet dynamics. The validity of the approach has been proved by modeling the classical problems of Rayleigh–Taylor instability, dam break, and droplet formation by comparing against other numerical and experimental data in the literature. Finally, droplet impingement on a liquid film and dry solid surface has been simulated and compared against the experimental data. The effect of impact angle and film thickness on the crown formation is studied to demonstrate the importance of modeling SLD impingement for in-flight icing conditions.