71th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 18, 2018 — November 20, 2018)

P0023: Sickening Splashes

Authors
  • Hyunggon Park, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
  • Seungho Kim, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
  • Hope Gruszewski, Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, Virginia Tech
  • David Schmale III, Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science, Virginia Tech
  • Jonathan Boreyko, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanics, Virginia Tech
  • Sunghwan Jung, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2018.GFM.P0023

         We study the fluid mechanics of pathogen spread via raindrop impacts on plant surfaces. A high-speed camera observed both dry and wet mechanisms of pathogen spread as a drop impacts a plant leaf. Healthy and diseased (infected with the yellow-rust pathogen, Puccinia triticina) leaves were used. The presence of pathogen spores on a leaf surface makes the spreading of the contact line unstable, thereby promoting the dispersal of spore-laden satellite droplets. In addition, we observed the dry dispersal of pathogen spores from a plant surface due to air vortices and direct collisions.

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