Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T21:50:04.553Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The instability of an annular thread of fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

Simon L. Goren
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering, the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

Abstract

The instability of an annular coating of liquid on a wire or on the inside of a small tube subject to capillary forces at its free surface is discussed. It was found that for given values of s/a, the ratio of the two radii of the annulus, and S ≡ρTa2, the reciprocal of the square of the Ohnesorge number, there is a disturbance of a certain wavelength (2πa/λ)*, which grows more rapidly than disturbances of any other wavelength. One would therefore expect the liquid to break up into a regular pattern of drops with spacing given by this wavelength. The dependence of (2πa/λ)* on s/a and S has been calculated and is presented graphically. Experimental observations on drop formation on wires and in tubes which agree with the calculations are given.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1962 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boys, C. V. 1959 Soap Bubbles, p. 68. New York: Dover Publications.
Bretherton, F. P. 1961 The motion of long bubbles in tubes. J. Fluid Mech. 10, 166.Google Scholar
Ponstein, J. 1959 Instability of rotating cylindrical jets. Appl. Sci. Res. A, 8, 425.Google Scholar
Rayleigh, Lord 1879 On the capillary phenomena of jets. Appendix I. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 29, 71.Google Scholar
Rayleigh, Lord 1892 On the instability of a cylinder of viscous liquid under capillary force. Phil. Mag. 34, 145.Google Scholar
Taylor, G. I. 1961 Deposition of a viscous fluid on the wall of a tube. J. Fluid Mech. 10, 161.Google Scholar
Tomotika, S. 1935 On the instability of a cylindrical thread of a viscous liquid surrounded by another viscous liquid. Proc. Roy. Soc. A, 150, 322.Google Scholar
Weber, C. 1931 Zum Zerfall eines Flüssigkeitsstrahles. Z. angew. Math. Mech. 11, 136.Google Scholar