The instability of capillary jets

Abstract

At high jet velocity the aerodynamic interaction between a capillary jet and the surrounding medium leads to an enhanced growth rate of axisymmetric disturbances. The available theories which account for this effect fail to agree with experimental observations. The difference is attributed, in part, to the relaxation of the velocity profile in jets formed by fully developed laminar pipe flow. The profile relaxation has a destabilizing effect just as does the aerodynamic interaction. In the absence of velocity-profile relaxation it is shown that the available theories overestimate the aerodynamic effect. A consideration of the viscosity of the ambient fluid yields a semi-empirical modification to the theory which shows good agreement with experimental values.