We present direct numerical simulations of the splashing process between two cylindrical
liquid rims. This belongs to a class of impact and collision problems with a wide
range of applications in science and engineering, and motivated here by splashing of
breaking ocean waves. Interfacial perturbations with a truncated white noise frequency
profile are introduced to the rims before their collision, whose subsequent morphological
development is simulated by solving the two-phase incompressible Navier-Stokes equation with the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) technique, within the Basilisk software
environment. We first derive analytical solutions predicting the unsteady interfacial and
velocity profiles of the expanding sheet forming between the two rims, and develop scaling
laws for the evolution of the lamella rim under capillary deceleration. We then analyse
the formation and growth of transverse ligaments ejected from the lamella rims, which we
find to originate from the initial corrugated geometry of the perturbed rim surface. Novel
scaling models are proposed for predicting the decay of the ligament number density due
to the ongoing ligament merging phenomenon, and found to agree well with the numerical
results presented here. The role of the mechanism in breaking waves is discussed further
and necessary next steps in the problem are identified.
