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The effects of gravity on the capillary instability in tubes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2006

VIRGINIE DUCLAUX
Affiliation:
IRPHE, UMR 6594, 49 rue F. Joliot-Curie, BP 146, 13384 Marseille, France
CHRISTOPHE CLANET
Affiliation:
IRPHE, UMR 6594, 49 rue F. Joliot-Curie, BP 146, 13384 Marseille, France
DAVID QUÉRÉ
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, FRE 2844 du CNRS, Collége de France, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

Abstract

We study the capillary instability of a liquid film (thickness $h_0$) coating a horizontal cylindrical tube (radius $R_0$). We show experimentally that the instability only occurs if $h_0/R_0>0.3(R_0/a)^2$, where $a$ is the capillary length. If this criterion is not fulfilled, the liquid film does not destabilize into an array of drops, owing to the gravitational drainage.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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