Shape effect of hot droplets on fragmentation

Fragmentation dynamics and the shape effect of initial hot droplets on it are investigated by using a classical molecular dynamics method. As the initial conditions for the fragmentation simulation, small hot droplets in the supercritical phase, with the number of particles N less than ∼103, are considered. It is revealed that, in the process of the fragmentation, the largest cluster approaches a certain quasistable state corresponding to the so-called triple point. It is also revealed that the initial shape of the hot droplets has a significant effect on the cluster distribution generated after fragmentation; i.e., the more prolate the initial shape, the more markedly the size of the largest cluster decreases and the number of small clusters increases. The shape effect diminishes with an increasing number of particles in the initial hot droplet and could be negligible for large hot droplets, of the number of particles N more than ∼103. © 2005 The American Physical Society