Nonlinear breakup of an electrohydrodynamic jet

Abstract

A weakly nonlinear theory of the breakup of a jet held together with the capillary forces in the presence of an applied electric field is presented. It is shown that the jet breaks into the main drops and their satellites whose sizes are sensitive to the wavenumbers and the electric field. The satellites always exist when the electric field is applied to the jet which, however, is not the case when the electric field is absent.