An experimental analysis of the instability of nonaxisymmetric liquid bridges in a gravitational field

Abstract

The stability limits of nonaxisymmetric liquid bridges between equal in diameter, coaxial disks have been determined experimentally. Experiments have been performed by working with very small size liquid bridges. The experimental setup allows any orientation of the liquid bridge axis with respect to the local gravity vector acceleration. By appropriately orienting the liquid bridge axis, the influence on the stability limits of both the lateral and the axial component of the acceleration acting on the liquid bridge has been investigated.