Impingement of cloud droplets on a cylinder and procedure for measuring liquid-water content and droplet sizes in supercooled clouds by rotating multicylinder method

摘要

Evaluation of the rotating multicylinder method for the measurement of droplet-size distribution, volume-median droplet size, and liquid-water content in clouds showed that small uncertainties in the basic data eliminate the distinction between different cloud droplet-size distributions and are a source of large errors in the determination of the droplet size. Calculations of the trajectories of cloud droplets in incompressible and compressible flow fields around a cylinder were performed on a mechanical analog constructed for the study of the trajectories of droplets around aerodynamic bodies. Many data points were carefully calculated in order to determine precisely the rate of droplet impingement on the surface of a right circular cylinder. From the computed droplet trajectories, the following impingement characteristics of the cylinder surface were obtained and are presented in terms of dimensionless parameters: (1) total rate of water impingement, (2) extent of droplet impingement zone, and (3) local distribution of impinging water on cylinder surface. The rotating multicylinder method for in-flight determination of liquid-water content, droplet size, and droplet-size distribution in icing clouds is described.