Stability of water bells generated by jet impacts on a disk
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Updated: Aug 10, 2026

Visualization of High Speed Liquid Jet Impaction on a Moving Surface
Published on: April 17, 2015
1I.R.P.H.E., CNRS-Universites d'Aix-Marseille I & II, Campus Universitaire de St. Jerome, Service 252, 13397 Marseille Cedex 20, France.
Abstract:
Water bells appear when a cylindrical liquid jet impacts normally onto a disk of similar diameter. First observed and described experimentally by F. Savart, their stationary shape was analytically obtained by J. Boussinesq. Here we consider the stability of these bells and derive a general stability criterion showing their sensitivity both to the pressure difference across the liquid sheet and to the ejection angle from the impacting disk. In this later case, we find a critical angle of ejection above which the bell is periodically destroyed and created.
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