An experimental investigation of the break-up of a liquid drop falling in a miscible fluid

Year: 1989

Authors: Arecchi F.T., Buah-Bassuah P.K., Francini F., Pérez-Garcia C., Quercioli F.

Autors Affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Department of Physics, University of Firenze, 50125 Firenze, Italy;
Department of Physics, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana;
Departament de Fisica, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra (Barcelona), Catalonia, Spain

Abstract: A liquid drop falling in a lighter miscible fluid either undergoes a cascade of fragmentations, each appearing as a dynamic instability, or it mixes by diffusion, depending on the value of a fragmentation number F. F is the ratio of the diffusion time to the time required for the fluid to convectively mix. We assign an accurate experimental value to the critical fragmentation number Fc, which appears to be universal. When the fragmentation occurs, the interfacial area increases via successive splittings which display striking symmetries. We present experimental evidence and a qualitative explanation of such a phenomenon.

Journal/Review: EPL

Volume: 9 (4)      Pages from: 333  to: 338

KeyWords: hydrodynamic stability and instability
DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/9/4/006

Citations: 25
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