drop fragmentation; leaf edge; drop impact

Engineering, computing & technology: Multidisciplinary, general & others
Mechanical engineering

English

Raindrop impact and fragmentation at the edge of leafs, in the context of foliar disease transmission

August 2018

9th International Conference on Plant Biomechanics

Montréal, Canada

du 9 au 14 août 2018

International

Rain-induced foliar pathogen propagation is inherently linked to droplet ejections from raindrop impact on infected leaves. Drop-plant interactions lead to liquid fragmentation scenarios which are complex, asymmetric, and fully three-dimensional. The most efficient fragmentation often results from a drop impact either close to the edge of a leaf or onto a residual drop on the leaf. Such impact always results in the development of a liquid sheet in the air. We present a new experimental configuration of drop impact close to the edge of a substrate that mimics the leaf. This experiment allows to reproduce qualitatively the asymmetric development of the liquid sheet in the air. We focus on the liquid sheet expansion and the influence of the leaf edge. Inclining the substrate can mimic the first-order movements of the leaf. We link the edge-induced asymmetry of the sheet to the emergence of different families of droplet-producing fragmentation processes. We discuss how our results can help shed light on foliar disease transmission.

F.R.S.-FNRS - Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique [BE]

since 31 August 2018