Numerical simulations have been used to investigate the flow regimes resulting from the impact of a 2.9 mm water drop on a deep water pool at velocities in the range 0.8–2.5 m/s. The results were used to identify the conditions leading to the formation of vortex rings, entrapment of a bubble during cavity collapse and the formation of vertical Rayleigh jets. Bubble entrapment and the associated growth of a thin high speed jet were shown to be the result of a capillary wave that propagates down the walls of the crater resulting from drop impact. Although the existence of a capillary waves is a necessary condition for bubble entrapment, bubbles will only occur when the wave speed and maximum crater size is such that the wave reaches the bottom of the crater before collapse has resulted in the formation of a thick Rayleigh jet. Simulations also clarified the conditions for which drop impact leads to axi-symmetric vortex rings. Results not reported previously, include the observation that a single drop can produce multiple vortex rings and that vortex rings can occur for conditions that lead to broad Rayleigh jets. Based on these results, it was concluded that the formation of vortex rings depends on the time at which vorticity is generated and the nature of its subsequent transport.

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The impact of a spherical water drop onto a water surface has been studied experimentally with the aid of a 35 mm drum camera giving high-resolution images that provided qualitative and quantitative data on the phenomena. Scaling laws for the time to reach maximum cavity sizes have been derived and provide a good fit to the experimental results. Transitions between the regimes for coalescence-only, the formation of a high-speed jet and bubble entrapment have been delineated. The high-speed jet was found to occur without bubble entrapment. This was caused by the rapid retraction of the trough formed by a capillary wave converging to the centre of the cavity base. The converging capillary wave has a profile similar to a Crapper wave. A plot showing the different regimes of cavity and impact drop behaviour in the Weber–Froude number-plane has been constructed for Fr and We less than 1000.

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