High energy dissipation rates from the impingement of free paper-thin sheets of liquids: Determination of the volume of the energy dissipation zone.

• Impinging paper-thin sheets of liquids produces high energy dissipation rates. • The volume of energy dissipation is equal to the volume of the impingement zone. • A new expression for the energy dissipation rate was derived and compared with turbulence theory. • Large-eddy turnover time is approximately equal to liquid residence time in impingement zone. • Large-eddy kinetic energy decays exponentially in the impingement zone. The micromixing time of impinging thin liquid sheets depends upon the energy dissipation rate (∊). The kinetic energy released by the impingement has been previously studied and was found to be a function of the coefficient of restitution of the collision. In this work, the volume within which the released kinetic energy is dissipated was investigated. The volume of energy dissipation was determined by measuring the time required for the velocity of the liquid prior to the collision to be reduced to the velocity after the collision. High-speed video was used to measure the velocity of features, generated in the front single sheet, as they passed through the impingement zone and into the mixed sheet. The experimental results showed that the time required for the velocity change was approximately equal to the residence time of liquid in the impingement zone (t r). A new equation for ∊ was developed and compared with ∊ derived from turbulence energy-cascade theory. This comparison showed that the large-eddy turnover time (t Λ) was approximately equal to t r ; a result that is in accordance with the notion from turbulence energy-cascade theory that large, energy-containing eddies lose their energy within t Λ. Within the impingement zone, the large-eddy kinetic energy was found to decay exponentially with time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]