Impact of Surface Roughness on the Impingement of Urea–Water Solution Droplets

The understanding of impingement processes is crucial for optimizing automotive selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems. An accurate description of this behavior helps design exhaust systems and increases the validity of modeling approaches. A component test bench was set up, featuring a droplet chain generator for producing droplet sizes typically found in the urea–water solution sprays of SCR systems. A heatable impingement plate with an interchangeable surface enabled investigation of the influence of surface roughness. Data were acquired using a high-speed camera and image postprocessing. The droplet–wall interaction could be described using different regimes. An approach to characterizing impingement behavior based on weighted-regime superposition enabled gradual transitions between regimes, instead of step-like changes. It was observed that the surface roughness increased the droplet–solid contact area and generated thermal-induced secondary droplets at lower temperatures. A region of enhanced mechanical disintegration of the droplet was found, caused by peaks of the surface shearing off parts of the droplet. The probability of a droplet rebounding from the wall was reduced on a rough surface, due to the interference of the surface spikes with the droplet’s spreading and contracting motion. Additionally, the influence of surface topography was investigated using a shot-peened surface. Caused by this surface’s reduced root mean square slope, the aforementioned enhancement of mechanical disintegration was not observed.