Dynamics of the interface between miscible liquids subjected to horizontal vibration

Abstract

We present experimental evidence of the existence of an interfacial instability between two miscible liquids of similar (but non-identical) viscosities and densities under horizontal vibration. A stably stratified two-layer system is composed of the same binary mixture with different concentrations placed in a confined cell (with length twice as large as the height). Unlike the case of immiscible fluids, here, the interface is a transient layer of small but non-zero thickness. In the experiments, the frequency and amplitude were varied within the ranges 2–24 Hz and 1.5–16 mm, respectively. When the value of the oscillatory forcing increases, the amplitudes of the interface perturbations grow continuously, forming a saw-tooth frozen structure. This evolution is also examined numerically. In addition to the solutions of full 3-D Navier–Stokes equations, an averaging approach with separation of time scales is used for situations in which the forcing period is very small compared to the natural time scales of the problem. The simulation of averaged equations provides the explanation of the instability development, the calculations of the full nonlinear equations shed light on the decay of a wavy pattern. The results of numerical modelling perfectly support the experimental observations.