Raindrop impact on sand: a dynamic explanation of crater morphologies

Abstract

As a droplet impacts on a granular substrate, both the intruder and the target deform, during which the liquid may penetrate into the substrate. {These three aspects together distinguish} it from other impact phenomena in the literature. We perform high-speed, double-laser profilometry measurements and disentangle the dynamics into three aspects: the deformation of the substrate during the impact, the maximum spreading diameter of the droplet, and the penetration of the liquid into the substrate. By systematically varying the impact speed and the packing fraction of the substrate, (i) the substrate deformation indicates a critical packing fraction ${\varphi }^{\ast }\approx 0.585$; (ii) the maximum droplet spreading diameter is found to scale with a Weber number corrected by the substrate deformation; and (iii) a model about the liquid penetration is established and is used to explain the observed crater morphology transition.

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• Cold granular targets slow the bulk freezing of an impacting droplet
• Drop impact on wet granular beds: water-content effects on the cratering
• Capillary processes in extraterrestrial contexts
• Emergence of a hexagonal pattern in shear-thickening suspensions under orbital oscillations
• Hydrogel sphere impact cratering, spreading and bouncing on granular media