We describe the rising trajectory of bubbles in isotropic turbulence and quantify the slowdown of the mean rise velocity of bubbles with sizes within the inertial subrange. We perform direct numerical simulations of bubbles, for a wide range of turbulence intensity, bubble inertia and deformability, with systematic comparison with the corresponding quiescent case, with Reynolds number at the Taylor microscale from 38 to 77. Turbulent fluctuations randomise the rising trajectory and cause a reduction of the mean rise velocity $\tilde {w}_b$ compared with the rise velocity in quiescent flow $w_b$. The decrease in mean rise velocity of bubbles $\tilde {w}_b/w_b$ is shown to be primarily a function of the ratio of the turbulence intensity and the buoyancy forces, described by the Froude number $Fr=u'/\sqrt {gd}$, where $u'$ is the root-mean-square velocity fluctuations, $g$ is gravity and $d$ is the bubble diameter. The bubble inertia, characterised by the ratio of inertial to viscous forces (Galileo number), and the bubble deformability, characterised by the ratio of buoyancy forces to surface tension (Bond number), modulate the rise trajectory and velocity in quiescent fluid. The slowdown of these bubbles in the inertial subrange is not due to preferential sampling, as is the case with sub-Kolmogorov bubbles. Instead, it is caused by the nonlinear drag–velocity relationship, where velocity fluctuations lead to an increased average drag. For $Fr > 0.5$, we confirm the scaling $\tilde {w}_b / w_b \propto 1 / Fr$, as proposed previously by Ruth et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 924, 2021, p. A2), over a wide range of bubble inertia and deformability.

Shock refraction in a gas–liquid interface is ubiquitous in nature and engineering. This study investigates the shock refraction phenomena in air–water interfaces for various inclination angles. The interface inclination angles are achieved using a tiltable vertical shock tube. The time-resolved schlieren images are compared with numerical simulations performed using the BlastFoam solver in the OpenFOAM software. The stiffened gas equation of state is used to model water in the simulations. The shock polar analysis using modified shock relations for a stiffened gas is used to elucidate the refraction patterns. A regular refraction pattern with a reflected shock wave and a bound precursor refraction with a regular reflection are observed experimentally for the first time in an air–water system. Further, a new free precursor refraction pattern with a Mach reflection is observed. The transition criteria and the corresponding boundaries for each refraction pattern are demarcated in the ($M_S, \theta _w^c$)-plane. The refraction sequence and the range for various incident shock strength regimes are also identified.

Droplet clustering in sprays refers to the dynamic evolution of highly concentrated regions due to the preferential accumulation of the polydisperse droplets in the turbulent airflow entrained by the spray. In the current study, we aim to experimentally investigate the collective vaporization of the droplets in droplet clusters in an air-assisted acetone spray characterized by the Group number, $G$. The magnitude of $G$ depends on the cluster length scale and interdroplet spacing, and it indicates the vaporization mode that may vary from the isolated mode ($G \ll 1$) to external group mode ($G \gg 1$). The droplet measurements were obtained under atmospheric conditions at different axial and radial locations within the spray. Application of the Voronoi analysis to particle image velocimetry images of the spray droplets facilitated the identification and characterization of the droplet clusters, which allowed the measurement of $G$ for each cluster. The results highlighted that multiscale clustering of the evaporating droplets leads to multimode group evaporation of the clusters (characterized by a wide range of $G$: 0.001–10). The trend of interdroplet spacing versus cluster area allowed the classification of the droplet clusters into small-scale clusters (which are of the order of the Kolmogorov length scale) and large-scale clusters (that scale with the large-scale turbulent eddies), that are found to exhibit distinct group evaporation behaviour. A theoretical model is invoked to correlate $G$ with the droplet evaporation rate for individual clusters, and some interesting observations are identified, which are explained in the paper.

In this paper, we numerically study the mechanism of the oscillatory flow dynamics associated with the tip vortex cavitation (TVC) over an elliptical hydrofoil section. Using our recently developed three-dimensional variational multiphase flow solver, we investigate the TVC phenomenon at Reynolds number $Re = 8.95 \times 10^5$ via dynamic subgrid-scale modelling and the homogeneous mixture theory. To begin, we examine the grid resolution requirements and introduce a length scale considering both the tip vortex strength and the core radius. This length scale is then employed to non-dimensionalize the spatial resolution in the tip vortex region, the results of which serve as a basis for estimation of the required mesh resolution in large eddy simulations of TVC. We next perform simulations to analyse the dynamical modes of tip vortex cavity oscillation at different cavitation numbers, and compare them with the semi-analytical solution. The breathing mode of cavity surface oscillation is extracted from the spatial-temporal evolution of the cavity's effective radius. The temporally averaged effective radius demonstrates that the columnar cavity experiences a growth region followed by decay as it progresses away from the tip. Further examination of the characteristics of local breathing mode oscillations in the growth and decay regions indicates the alteration of the cavity's oscillatory behaviour as it travels from the growth region to the decay region, with the oscillations within the growth region being characterized by lower frequencies. For representative cavitation numbers $\sigma \in [1.2,2.6]$, we find that pressure fluctuations exhibit a shift of the spectrum towards lower frequencies as the cavitation number decreases, similar to its influence on breathing mode oscillations. The results indicate the existence of correlations between the breathing mode oscillations and the pressure fluctuations. While the low-frequency pressure fluctuations are found to be correlated with the growth region, the breathing mode oscillations within the decay region are related to higher-frequency pressure fluctuations. The proposed mechanism can play an important role in developing mitigation strategies for TVC, which can reduce the underwater radiated noise by marine propellers.

The spreading of large viscous drops of density-matched suspensions of non-Brownian spheres on a smooth solid surface is investigated experimentally at the global drop scale. The focus is on dense suspensions with a solid volume fraction equal to or greater than $40\,\%$, and for drops larger than the capillary length, i.e. for which the spreading is governed by the balance of gravitational and viscous forces. Our findings indicate that all liquids exhibit a power-law behaviour typical of gravity-driven dynamics, albeit with an effective suspension viscosity that is smaller than the bulk value. When the height of the drop is of the order of the particle size, the power law breaks down as the particles freeze while the contact line continues to advance.

The Marangoni flow induced by an insoluble surfactant on a fluid–fluid interface is a fundamental problem investigated extensively due to its implications in colloid science, biology, the environment and industrial applications. Here, we study the limit of a deep liquid subphase with negligible inertia (low Reynolds number, $Re\ll {1}$), where the two-dimensional problem has been shown to be described by the complex Burgers equation. We analyse the problem through a self-similar formulation, providing further insights into its structure and revealing its universal features. Six different similarity solutions are found. One of the solutions includes surfactant diffusion, whereas the other five, which are identified through a phase-plane formalism, hold only in the limit of negligible diffusion (high surface Péclet number $Pe_s\gg {1}$). Surfactant ‘pulses’, with a locally higher concentration that spreads outward, lead to two similarity solutions of the first kind with a similarity exponent $\beta =1/2$. On the other hand, distributions that are locally depleted and flow inwards lead to similarity of the second kind, with two different exponents that we obtain exactly using stability arguments. We distinguish between ‘dimple’ solutions, where the surfactant has a quadratic minimum and $\beta =2$, from ‘hole’ solutions, where the concentration profile is flatter than quadratic and $\beta =3/2$. Each of these two cases exhibits two similarity solutions, one valid prior to a critical time $t_*$ when the derivative of the concentration is singular, and another one valid after $t_*$. We obtain all six solutions in closed form, and discuss predictions that can be extracted from these results.

The elasto-inertial focusing and rotating characteristics of spheroids in a square channel flow of Oldroyd-B viscoelastic fluids are studied by the direct forcing/fictitious domain method. The rotational behaviours, changes in the equilibrium positions and travel distances are explored to analyse the mechanisms of spheroid migration in viscoelastic fluids. Within the present simulated parameters (1 ≤ Re ≤ 100, 0 ≤ Wi ≤ 2, 0.4 ≤ α ≤3), the results show that there are four kinds of equilibrium positions and six (five) kinds of rotational behaviours for the elasto-inertial migration of prolate (oblate) spheroids. We are the first to identify a new rotational mode for the migration of prolate spheroids. Only when the particles are initially located at a corner and wall bisector, some special initial orientations of the spheroids have an impact on the final equilibrium position and rotational mode. In other general initial positions, the initial orientation of the spheroid has a negligible effect. A higher Weissenberg number means the faster the particles migrate to the equilibrium position. The spheroid gradually changes from the corner (CO), channel centreline (CC), diagonal line (DL) and cross-section midline (CSM) equilibrium positions as the elastic number decreases, depending on the aspect ratio, initial orientation and rotational behaviour of the particles and the elastic number of the fluid. When the elastic number is less than the critical value, the types of rotational modes of the spheroids are reduced. By controlling the elastic number near the critical value, spheroids with different aspect ratios can be efficiently separated.

We numerically study the influence of a soluble surfactant on the microjetting mode of the liquid–liquid flow focusing configuration. The surfactant adsorbs on the interface next to the feeding capillary and accumulates in front of the emitted jet, significantly lowering the surface tension there. The resulting Marangoni stress substantially alters the balance of the tangential stresses at the interface but does not modify the interface velocity. The global stability analysis at the minimum flow rate stability limit shows that the Marangoni stress collaborates with soluto-capillarity to stabilize the microjetting mode. Our analysis unveils the noticeable effect of the Marangoni stress associated with the surface tension perturbation. Surfactant diffusion and desorption hardly affect the stability limit. Transient numerical simulations show how subcritical and supercritical base flows respond to a spatially localized initial perturbation. Our parametric study indicates that the minimum flow rate ratio depends on the adsorption constant and the surfactant concentration through the product of these two variables. The surfactant stabilizing effect increases with the outer stream flow rate. We show that surfactants not only stabilize the microemulsion resulting from the jet breakup in hydrodynamic focusing, but also allow for the reduction of droplet size. Our findings advance the fundamental understanding of the complex role of surfactants in tip streaming via hydrodynamic focusing. In particular, our results contradict the common assumption that adding surfactant favours tip streaming simply because it reduces the meniscus tip surface tension.

This study presents direct numerical simulation results of two-layer Rayleigh–Bénard convection, investigating the previously unexplored Rayleigh–Weber parameter space $10^6\leq Ra\leq 10^8$ and $10^2\leq We\leq 10^3$. Global properties, such as the Nusselt and Reynolds numbers, are compared against the extended Grossmann–Lohse theory for two fluid layers, confirming a weak Weber number dependence for all global quantities and considerably larger Reynolds numbers in the lighter fluid. Statistics of the flow reveal that the interface fluctuates more intensely for larger Weber and smaller Rayleigh numbers, something also reflected in the increased temperature root mean square values next to the interface. The dynamics of the deformed two-fluid interface is further investigated using spectral analysis. Temporal and spatial spectrum distributions reveal a capillary wave range at small Weber and large Rayleigh numbers, and a secondary energy peak at smaller Rayleigh numbers. Furthermore, the maxima of the space–time spectra lie in an intermediate dispersion regime, between the theoretical predictions for capillary and gravity-capillary waves, showing that the gravitational energy of the interfacial waves is strongly altered by temperature gradients.

We investigate air-entraining flows where degassing, rather than fragmentation, plays a significant role. Of interest is the power-law slope $\beta$ of the bulk bubble size distribution $N(a)$ during the air-generating period, when the total volume of bubbles is increasing. We study a canonical air-entraining flow created by strong underlying free-surface turbulence. We perform analysis using the population balance equation (PBE) and computations using direct numerical simulations (DNS) with bubble tracking. We quantify the importance of degassing by the ratio of degassing flux ($Q_D$) to entrainment flux ($Q_I$), $\mathcal {D}=Q_D/Q_I$, and the ratio of degassing rate ($\varLambda (a)$) to fragmentation rate ($\varOmega (a)$) for a bubble of radius $a$, $\varLambda (a)/\varOmega (a)$. For a broad range of large Froude numbers ${{Fr}}=U/\sqrt {L g}$, DNS give $\mathcal {D}=\operatorname {O}(1)$ (independent of ${{Fr}}$), showing that degassing is relevant, and $\varLambda (a) \gg \varOmega (a)$, showing that the bubble population is degassing-dominated. In contrast to fragmentation-dominated populations, such as those due to wave breaking, where $\beta =-10/3$, degassing-dominated populations have qualitatively different $N(a)$ during air entrainment. Analysis using the PBE shows that degassing-dominated $\beta$ is a function of $\varLambda (a)$, which has a turbulence-driven regime ($a< a_\varLambda$) and a buoyancy-driven regime ($a>a_\varLambda$). Here, $a_\varLambda$ is the bubble radius where terminal buoyant rise velocity equals $u_{rms}$. Consequently, $N(a)$ exhibits a split power with $\beta (a< a_\varLambda )=-4.\bar {3}$ and $\beta (a>a_\varLambda )=-5.8\bar {3}$ for moderate bubble Reynolds numbers ${{Re}}_b$. For large ${{Re}}_b$, $\beta (a>a_\varLambda )=-4.8\bar {3}$. The DNS strongly confirm these findings for moderate ${{Re}}_b$. By identifying and describing degassing-dominated bubble populations, this work contributes to the understanding and interpretation of broad types of air-entraining problems where degassing plays a relevant role.

Diffuse interface models are an important class of models used to describe multi-phase flows. In the case of incompressible viscous fluids there are a number of different diffuse interface models which have been known for many years. Nevertheless, a model based on mixture theory with a full set of conservation laws for the conservation of linear momentum of each constituent was not yet available. This gap was filled by ten Eikelder et al. (J. Fluid Mech., in press) recently and a first comparison with known models of Navier–Stokes/Cahn–Hilliard type is given. A detailed understanding of the relations between these models remains an important question.

Turbulence can have a strong effect on the fall speed of snowflakes and ice crystals. In this experimental study, the behaviour of thin disks falling in homogeneous turbulence is investigated, in a range of parameters relevant to plate crystals. Disks ranging in diameter from 0.3 to 3 mm, and in Reynolds number $Re = 10\unicode{x2013}435$, are dispersed in two air turbulence levels, with velocity fluctuations comparable to the terminal velocity. For each case, thousands of trajectories are captured and reconstructed by high-speed laser imaging, allowing for statistical analysis of the translational and rotational dynamics. Air turbulence reduces the disk terminal velocities by up to 35 %, with the largest diameters influenced most significantly, which is primarily attributed to drag nonlinearity. This is evidenced by large lateral excursions of the trajectories, which correlate with cross-flow-induced drag enhancement as reported previously for falling spheres and rising bubbles. As the turbulence intensity is increased, flat-falling behaviour is progressively eliminated and tumbling becomes prevalent. The rotation rates of the tumbling disks, however, remain similar to those displayed in still air. This is due to their large moment of inertia compared to the surrounding fluid, in stark contrast with studies conducted in water. In fact, the observed reduction of settling velocity is opposite to previous findings on disks falling in turbulent water. This emphasizes the importance of the solid-to-fluid density ratio in analogous experiments that aim to mimic the behaviour of frozen hydrometeors.

Flexible canopy flows are often encountered in natural scenarios, e.g. when crops sway in the wind or when submerged kelp forests are agitated by marine currents. Here, we provide a detailed characterisation of the turbulent flow developed above and between the flexible filaments of a fully submerged dense canopy and we describe their dynamical response to the turbulent forcing. We investigate a wide range of flexibilities, encompassing the case in which the filaments are completely rigid and standing upright as well as that where they are fully compliant to the flow and deflected in the streamwise direction. We are thus able to isolate the effect of the canopy flexibility on the drag and on the inner–outer flow interactions, as well as the two flapping regimes of the filaments already identified for a single fibre. Furthermore, we offer a detailed description of the Reynolds stresses throughout the wall-normal direction resorting to the Lumley triangle formalism, and we show the multi-layer nature of turbulence inside and above the canopy. The relevance of our investigation is thus twofold: the fundamental physical understanding developed here paves the way towards the investigation of more complex and realistic scenarios, while we also provide a thorough characterisation of the turbulent state that can prove useful in the development of accurate turbulence models for RANS and LES.

The evolution of the water-entry cavity affects the impact load and the motion of the body. This paper adopts the Eulerian finite element method for multiphase flow for simulations of the high-speed water-entry process. The accuracy and convergence of the numerical method are verified by comparing it with the experimental data and the results of the transient cavity dynamics theory. Based on the results, the representative characteristics of the cavity are discussed from the perspective of the cavity cross-section. It is found that the asymmetry of the cavity expansion and contraction durations is related to the motion of the free surface and the closure of the cavity. The uplift of the free surface suppresses cavity expansion, while the jet generated from free surface closure accelerates cavity contraction. The duration of the contraction of the cavity near the free surface is shorter than the expansion duration due to the change in the velocity distribution caused by the free surface motion. The necking phenomenon during deep closure leads to an increase in the internal pressure of the cavity, prolonging cavity contraction near the deep closure area. This work provides new insights into the cavity dynamics in high-speed water entry.

A hybrid lattice Boltzmann and finite difference method is applied to study the influence of soluble surfactants on droplet deformation and breakup in simple shear flow. First, the influence of bulk surfactant parameters on droplet deformation in two-dimensional shear flow is investigated, and the surfactant solubility is found to influence droplet deformation by changing average interface surfactant concentration and non-uniform effects induced by non-uniform interfacial tension and Marangoni forces. In addition, the droplet deformation first increases and then decreases with Biot number, increases significantly with adsorption number $k$ and decreases with Péclet number or adsorption depth; and among the parameters, $k$ is the most influential one. Then, we consider three-dimensional shear flow and investigate the roles of surfactants on droplet deformation and breakup for different capillary numbers and viscosity ratios. Results show that in the soluble case with $k=0.429$, the droplet exhibits nearly the same deformation as in the insoluble case due to the balance between surfactant adsorption and desorption; upon increasing $k$ from 0.429 to 1, the average interface surfactant concentration is greatly enhanced, leading to significant increase in droplet deformation. The critical capillary number of droplet breakup $C{{a}_{cr}}$ is identified for varying viscosity ratios in clean, insoluble and soluble ($k=0.429$ and 1) systems. As the viscosity ratio increases, $C{{a}_{cr}}$ first decreases and then increases rapidly in all systems. The addition of surfactants always favours droplet breakup, and increasing solubility or $k$ could further reduce $C{{a}_{cr}}$ by increasing average interface surfactant concentration and local surfactant concentration near the neck during the necking stage.

The bubbly shock-driven partial cavitation in an axisymmetric venturi is studied with time-resolved two-dimensional X-ray densitometry. The bubbly shock waves are characterised using the vapour fraction and pressure changes across it, propagation velocity, and Mach number. The sharp changes in vapour fraction measured with X-ray densitometry, combined with high-frequency dynamic pressure measurements, reveal that the interaction of the pressure wave with the vapour cavity dictates the shedding dynamics. At the lowest cavitation number ($\sigma \sim 0.47$), the condensation shock front is the predominant shedding mechanism. However, as $\sigma$ increases ($\sigma \sim 0.78$), we observe an upstream travelling pressure discontinuity that changes into a condensation shock as it approaches the venturi throat. This coincides with the increasing strength of the bubbly shock wave as it propagates upstream, manifested by the increasing velocity of the shock front and the pressure rise across it. Consequently, the Mach number of the shock front increases and surpasses the critical value 1, favouring condensation shocks. Further, at higher $\sigma$ (${\sim }0.84\unicode{x2013}0.9$), both the re-entrant jet and pressure wave can cause cavity detachment. However, at such $\sigma$, the pressure wave likely remains subsonic. Hence cavity condensation is not favoured readily. This leads to the re-entrant jet causing the cavity detachment at higher $\sigma$. The shock front is accelerated as it propagates upstream through the variable cross-section of the venturi. This enhances its strength, favouring cavity condensation and eventual shedding. These observations explain the existence of shock fronts in an axisymmetric venturi for a large range of $\sigma$.

Droplet impact on oscillating substrates is important for both natural and industrial processes. Recognizing the importance of the dynamics that arises from the interplay between droplet transport and substrate motion, in this work, we present an experimental investigation of the spreading of a droplet impacting a sinusoidally oscillating hydrophobic substrate. We focus particularly on the maximum spread of droplets as a function of various parameters of substrate oscillation. We first quantify the maximum spreading diameter attained by the droplets as a function of frequency, amplitude of vibration, and phase at the impact for various impact velocities. We highlight that there can be two stages of spreading. Stage I, which is observed at all impact conditions, is controlled by the droplet inertia and affected by the substrate oscillation. For certain conditions, a Stage II spreading is also observed, which occurs during the retraction process of Stage I due to additional energies imparted by the substrate oscillation. Subsequently, we derive scaling analyses to predict the maximum spreading diameters and the time for this maximum spread for both Stage I and Stage II. Furthermore, we identify the necessary condition for Stage II spreading to be greater than Stage I spreading. The results will enable optimization of the parameters in applications where substrate oscillation is used to control the droplet spread, and thus heat and mass transfer between the droplet and the substrate.

We perform direct numerical simulations of surfactant-laden droplets in homogeneous isotropic turbulence with Taylor Reynolds number $Re_\lambda \approx 180$. The droplets are modelled using the volume-of-fluid method, and the soluble surfactant is transported using an advection–diffusion equation. Effects of surfactant on the droplet and local flow statistics are well approximated using a lower, averaged value of surface tension, thus allowing us to extend the framework developed by Hinze (AIChE J., vol. 1, no. 3, 1955, pp. 289–295) and Kolmogorov (Dokl. Akad. Navk. SSSR, vol. 66, 1949, pp. 825–828) for surfactant-free bubbles to surfactant-laden droplets. We find that surfactant-induced tangential stresses play a minor role in this set-up, thus allowing us to extend the Kolmogorov–Hinze framework to surfactant-laden droplets. The Kolmogorov–Hinze scale $d_H$ is indeed found to be a pivotal length scale in the droplets’ dynamics, separating the coalescence-dominated (droplets smaller than $d_H$) and the breakage-dominated (droplets larger than $d_H$) regimes in the droplet size distribution. We find that droplets smaller than $d_H$ have a rather compact, regular, spheroid-like shape, whereas droplets larger than $d_H$ have long, convoluted, filamentous shapes with a diameter equal to $d_H$. This results in very different scaling laws for the interfacial area of the droplet. The normalized area, $A/d_H^2$, of droplets smaller than $d_H$ is proportional to $(d/d_H)^2$, while the area of droplets larger than $d_H$ is proportional to $(d/d_H)^3$, where $d$ is the droplet characteristic size. We further characterize the large filamentous droplets by computing the number of handles (loops of the dispersed phase extending into the carrier phase) and voids (regions of the carrier fluid completely enclosed by the dispersed phase) for each droplet. The number of handles per unit length of filament scales inversely with surface tension. The number of voids is proportional to the droplet size and independent of surface tension. Handles are indeed an unstable feature of the interface and are destroyed by the restoring effect of surface tension, whereas voids can move freely in the interior of the droplets, unaffected by surface tension.

There exists much research examining the role of surface-attached air bubbles in drag reduction. Most of this literature considers isothermal flows and so ignores temperature differences, e.g. with the solid boundary. Here, we relax this assumption and ask whether surface-attached air bubbles may prove useful as thermal insulators, e.g. when the solid temperature differs from that of the cargo liquid (water). Theoretical and numerical solutions, e.g. for the variation of the Nusselt number with bubble thickness, are presented for cases characterized by a uniform surface heat flux (USF). We examine channel and pipe flow geometries, and consider instances where the net mass flow rate within the (continuous) air bubble is zero or non-zero. When the thermal boundary condition is changed to uniform surface temperature (UST), our analysis limits attention to numerical solutions. We identify and discuss a remarkable connection between the drag reduction problem and the USF thermal insulation problem: the proportional change of water temperature with bubble thickness is identical to the proportional change of drag. Also, and although our analysis is conducted in the ‘perfect plastron limit’, we can, e.g. by evaluating hydrodynamic and thermal slip lengths, contrast our work against related studies where heat transfer occurs through the ridges or pillars that affix the air layer in place. This comparison indicates that the oft-applied adiabatic interface assumption may prove restrictive in some regions of the parameter space. We conclude by examining the implications of our work in the context of UST micro-channels, which are relevant to various lab-on-a-chip technologies.

The dynamics of stabilised concentrated emulsions presents a rich phenomenology including chaotic emulsification, non-Newtonian rheology and ageing dynamics at rest. Macroscopic rheology results from the complex droplet microdynamics and, in turn, droplet dynamics is influenced by macroscopic flows via the competing action of hydrodynamic and interfacial stresses, giving rise to a complex tangle of elastoplastic effects, diffusion, breakups and coalescence events. This tight multiscale coupling, together with the daunting challenge of experimentally investigating droplets under flow, has hindered the understanding of concentrated emulsions dynamics. We present results from three-dimensional numerical simulations of emulsions that resolve the shape and dynamics of individual droplets, along with the macroscopic flows. We investigate droplet dispersion statistics, measuring probability density functions (p.d.f.s) of droplet displacements and velocities, changing the concentration, in the stirred and ageing regimes. We provide the first measurements, in concentrated emulsions, of the relative droplet–droplet separations p.d.f. and of the droplet acceleration p.d.f., which becomes strongly non-Gaussian as the volume fraction is increased above the jamming point. Cooperative effects, arising when droplets are in contact, are argued to be responsible of the anomalous superdiffusive behaviour of the mean square displacement and of the pair separation at long times, in both the stirred and in the ageing regimes. This superdiffusive behaviour is reflected in a non-Gaussian pair separation p.d.f., whose analytical form is investigated, in the ageing regime, by means of theoretical arguments. This work paves the way to developing a connection between Lagrangian dynamics and rheology in concentrated emulsions.