Experimental study on influence of splashing behavior on mechanical effects

The liquid splashing phenomenon occurs when the liquid is irradiated by laser, which consumes a large amount of liquid. The influence of splashing behavior on mechanical effects is researched in this paper. Aiming at the analyzing of mechanical effects in glycerol splashing, the flow field visualization and thrust measurement device are designed. The glycerol is ablated using the YAG laser. The splash part contained in the thrust curve can be obtained, and its proportion of contribution to the total impulse can be calculated by integrating the thrust curve over time. The experiment results show that large amounts of splash produce few impulses. Besides, the splashing behavior is the main reason for the low specific impulse of liquid as it wastes large amount of liquid. Finally, a new method for reducing splashing by ablating carbon-doped liquid is proposed. The experiment is to demonstrate the validity and capability of the proposed method. Key words: liquid ablation; laser propulsion; liquid; carbon-doped