Manchester Applied Mathematics and Numerical Analysis Seminars Winter 1998

November 4, 1998, 4.00 pm

Lecture Theatre D13 Material Science

Late stages of breakup of a viscous thread

Costas Pozrikidis, AMES, Univ. of California, San Diego

The breakup of an infinite column of a viscous fluid immersed in another ambient viscous fluid is considered; the motion is due to the Rayleigh capillary instability. Numerical simulations are performed using the boundary-integral method, and it is shown that the similarity solution developed by Papageorgiou (1995) describes the late stages of the evolution for a broad range of initial conditions. The viscosity of the ambient fluid is shown to have a significant influence on the location of breakup.

For further info contact either Matthias Heil (mheil@ma.man.ac.uk), Mark Muldoon (M.Muldoon@umist.ac.uk)or the seminar secretary (Tel. 0161 275 5800).