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Transience to instability in a liquid sheet

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2010

N. S. BARLOW*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5725, USA
B. T. HELENBROOK
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5725, USA
S. P. LIN
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5725, USA
*
Email address for correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract

Series solutions are found which describe the evolution to absolute and convective instability in an inviscid liquid sheet flowing in a quiescent ambient gas and subject to a localized perturbation. These solutions are used to validate asymptotic stability predictions for sinuous and varicose disturbances. We show how recent disagreements in growth predictions stem from assumptions made when arriving at the Fourier integral response. Certain initial conditions eliminate or reduce the order of singularities in the Fourier integral. If a Gaussian perturbation is applied to both the position and velocity of a sheet when the Weber number is less than one, we observe absolutely unstable sinuous waves which grow like t1/3. If only the position is perturbed, we find that the sheet is stable and decays like t−2/3 at the origin. Furthermore, if both the position and velocity of a sheet are perturbed in the absence of ambient gas, we observe a new phenomenon in which sinuous waves neither grow nor decay and varicose waves grow like t1/2 with a convective instability.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

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