TRANSITION RANGES FOR THREE-DIMENSIONAL WAKES

Abstract

The motions set up in a liquid due to the passage of a drop of an immiscible liquid have been examined for a number of liquid–liquid systems. Wake configurations corresponding to Reynolds numbers between 0 and 2500 have been photographed, and the transition ranges between the various wake configurations have been determined. Several liquid–liquid systems were used in obtaining data on wake patterns, and it was found that identical patterns correspond to approximately the same Reynolds numbers regardless of the system. However, the exact transition number cannot be determined for the general case as drop deformations depend on the physical characteristics of a particular system. The range of Reynolds numbers corresponding to a transition from one wake pattern to another is somewhat less than 20.