Open Access

ARTICLE

Subcritical and Oscillatory Dynamic Surface Deformations in Non-Cylindrical Liquid Bridges

V. Shevtsova^1,2, A. Mialdun¹, C. Ferrera^1,4, M. Ermakov^3,4, J. M. Montanero⁴

1 MRC, CP-165/62, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50, av.F. D. Roosevelt, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
2 Corresponding author; e-mail: vshev@ulb.ac.be
3 Institute for Problems in Mechanics RAS, 101 Vernadsky Avenue, Bldg 1, 119526 Moscow Russia
4 Departamentode Electrónic aeIngeniería Electromecánica, Universidad de Extremadura, E-06071Badajoz, Spain

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2008, 4(1), 43-54. https://doi.org/10.3970/fdmp.2008.004.043

Abstract

Dynamic free surface deformations induced by buoyant and thermocapillary convection in liquid bridges of 5cSt silicone oil are studied experimentally and numerically. The experiments are performed in ground conditions and static deformation is unavoidable. Convective motion starts in the liquid bridge as soon as ΔT ≠ 0 and initially leads to a stationary dynamic deformation of the free surface. Oscillatory motion starts at a critical value of ΔT and causes oscillations of the interface. The final supercritical shape of the free surface is a result of the static shape with superimposed subcritical stationary and oscillatory dynamic deformations. All these contributions are strongly influenced by the initial volume of the liquid bridge. The study was performed in three steps for different initial volumes: (1) the static shape was measured experimentally and the physical properties of liquid were fine-tuned by comparing the measured shape with the computed one; (2) subcritical deformations due to stationary convection were studied numerically; (3) supercritical dynamic deformations due to oscillatory convection were measured experimentally.

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Keywords

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