Morphology and dynamics of droplet coalescence on a surface

The coalescence of a pair of droplets on a surface is investigated experimentally with images from detailed flow visualisations revealing the morphology of the process. It is found that they merge and evolve to a final state with a footprint that is peanut like in shape, with bulges along the longer sides resulting from the effects of inertia during spreading. The associated dynamics involve a subtle interplay between (i) the motion of the wetting process due to relaxation of the contact angle and (ii) a rapid rise in free-surface height above the point where coalescence began due to negative pressure generated by curvature. During the early stages of the motion, a traveling wave propagates from the point of initial contact up the side of each droplet as liquid is drawn into the neck region, and only when it reaches the apex of each do their heights start to decrease. A further feature of the rapid rise in height of the neck region is that the free surface there overshoots significantly its final equilibrium position; it reaches a height greater than that of the starting droplets, producing a self-excited oscillation that persists long after the system reaches its final morphological state in relation to its footprint.