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The bifurcation of liquid bridges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

D. H. Peregrine
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK
G. Shoker
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK
A. Symon
Affiliation:
School of Mathematics, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TW, UK

Abstract

Details of the shape of the liquid bridge joining a nascent water drop to its parent body are presented for times before, after and at the instant of bifurcation when the drop is created and also when the secondary droplet is formed. After the instant of bifurcation there is ‘unbalanced’ surface tension which gives an impulse to the rest of the fluid causing strong surface deformations. The major point of this work is to draw attention to the strong up–down asymmetry at each bifurcation point. The geometric similarity at each bifurcation instant supports the conjecture that the flow converges to just one similarity solution of the type described by Keller & Miksis (1983) in which only surface tension and inertia are important. Features of the flow before and after bifurcation are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1990 Cambridge University Press

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