Dispersion of capillary waves in various liquids during the coalescence of a falling drop in the impact mode




In a series of experiments with a high-speed camera, the evolution of capillary waves excited by the fall of a water drop onto the surface of a molten metal at room and high temperatures was investigated.
Based on images obtained in experiments with a high-speed camera, a dispersion relation is constructed for capillary waves on the surface of molten metal and water induced by the merging of a falling drop with the surface of the target liquid.
Using spectral analysis and direct measurement methods, approximations of the dependence of the wavelength and frequency of capillary waves on time are first constructed using power functions. Then, the "frequency-wavelength" points are extracted from these dependencies, which are also approximated by a power function.
The quality of the selected power dependence is assessed by the degree of closeness of the approximating curve to the theoretical one, as well as by the magnitude of the relative deviation of the experimental power factor from the theoretical one.
A qualitative and quantitative comparison of experiments with water and molten metal is performed.

capillary waves, drop impact, experiment, wave dispersion


Volume 26, issue 8, 2025 year


Дисперсия капиллярных волн в различных жидкостях при слиянии падающей капли в импактном режиме

В рамках серии экспериментов со скоростной камерой исследована эволюция капиллярных волн, возбуждаемых падением капли воды на поверхность расплава металла при комнатной и высокой температурах.
На основе полученных в экспериментах изображений построено дисперсионное соотношение для капиллярных волн на поверхности расплава металла и воды.
Используя методы спектрального анализа и прямых измерений, с помощью степенных функций сначала строятся аппроксимации зависимости длины волны и частоты капиллярных волн от времени. Затем из этих зависимостей извлекаются точки «частота-длина волны», которые также аппроксимируются степенной функцией.
Качество подобранной степенной зависимости оценивается по степени близости аппроксимирующей кривой к теоретической, а также по величине относительного отклонения экспериментального степенного множителя от предсказанного теорией.
Выполнено качественное и количественное сравнение опытов с водой и расплавленным металлом.

капиллярные волны, импакт капли, эксперимент, дисперсия волн.


Volume 26, issue 8, 2025 year



1. Chashechkin Y. D., Foundations of engineering mathematics applied for fluid flows // Axioms. 2021, vol. 10, no. 4, p. 286. https://doi.org/10.3390/axioms10040286.
2. Chashechkin Y., Ochirov A., Lapshina K. Y. Surface Waves Along the Interface of Stably Stratified Liquids//Physical-Chemical Kinetics in Gas Dynamics. 2022. V.23, iss. 6. http://chemphys.edu.ru/issues/2022-23-6/articles/1028/
3. Wout M. Goesaert, Paul S. W. M. Logman; Easy method to establish the dispersion relation of capillary waves on water jets. Am. J. Phys. 1 February 2024;
92 (2): 93–99. https://doi.org/10.1119/5.0144849
4. Chashechkin Yu. D., & Prokhorov V. E., Drop-impact hydrodynamics: Short waves on a surface of the crown, Doklady Physics, 2013, vol. 58, no. 7, pp. 296–300. DOI:10.1134/s1028335813070021
5. Ivantsov A. O., Lyubimova T. P., Vorobyov A. M. Numerical modeling of the evolution of gravity and capillary waves in a system of two weakly miscible fluids // Proceedings of the international symposium "Nonequilibrium processes in continuous media", Vol. 1, 2017,
p. 194-197 (in Russian). https://elibrary.ru/item.asp?id=32178104
6. Van der Eijk, M., & Wellens, P. R. (2020). A compressible two-phase flow model for pressure oscillations in air entrapments following green water impact events on ships. International Shipbuilding Progress, 1–29. doi:10.3233/isp-200278
7. Tan, M. K., Friend, J. R., Matar, O. K., & Yeo, L. Y. (2010). Capillary wave motion excited by high frequency surface acoustic waves. Physics of Fluids, 22(11), 112112. doi:10.1063/1.3505044
8. Zhang S, Orosco J, Friend J. Onset of Visible Capillary Waves from High-Frequency Acoustic Excitation. Langmuir. 2023 Mar 14;39(10):3699-3709. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c03403.
Epub (2023) Mar 1. PMID: 36857201; PMCID: PMC10018762.
9. Brekke, C. and Solberg, A. (2005) Oil Spill Detection by Satellite Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing of Environment, 95, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2004.11.015
10. Naeser, H. The Capillary Waves’ Contribution to Wind-Wave Generation. Fluids 2022, 7, 73. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids7020073
11. Yang, Z., Ji, B., Ault, J.T. et al. Enhanced singular jet formation in oil-coated bubble bursting. Nat. Phys. 19, 884–890 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-01958-z
12. Alvarez, M., Friend, J., & Yeo, L. Y. (2008). Rapid generation of protein aerosols and nanoparticles via surface acoustic wave atomization. Nanotechnology, 19(45), 455103. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/19/45/455103
13. Orme, B., Torun, H., Unthank, M. et al. Capillary wave tweezer. Sci Rep 14, 12448 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-63154-0
14. Whitham G. B., Linear and nonlinear waves, John Wiley and Sons, 1974.
15. Lamb H., Hydrodynamics, New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1932.
16. Hydrophysical complex for modeling hydrodynamic processes in the environment and their impact on underwater technical objects, as well as the distribution of impurities in the ocean and atmosphere, Institute for Problems in Mechanics RAS. Available online: http://ipmnet.ru/uniqequip/gfk (accessed on 15 June 2023) [in Russian].
17. Handschuh-Wang S, Chen Y, Zhu L, Zhou X. Analysis and transformations of room-temperature liquid metal interfaces - A closer look through interfacial tension.
Chemphyschem. 2018 Jul 5;19(13):1584-1592. doi: 10.1002/cphc.201800129.
Epub 2018 Apr 17. PMID: 29539243.
18. Khaiirbekov S. Noise suppression and filtering when processing images of drop and wave flows // Physical-Chemical Kinetics in Gas Dynamics. 2024. V.25, iss. 2. http://chemphys.edu.ru/issues/2024-25-2/articles/1095/