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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 3, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability

Published on: March 3, 2017

Meandering instability of a viscous thread.

Stephen W Morris¹, Jonathan H P Dawes, Neil M Ribe

¹Department of Physics, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A7.

Physical Review. E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics

|July 23, 2008

Summary

Researchers explored fluid dynamics by studying a falling viscous thread on a moving belt, observing complex states like meandering and figure-8 patterns as belt speed decreased.

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Published on: February 22, 2018

Area of Science:

Fluid Dynamics
Nonlinear Dynamics
Experimental Physics

Background:

The rope-coiling effect describes a viscous thread buckling into loops when falling onto a stationary surface.
Replacing the surface with a moving belt breaks symmetry, leading to diverse fluid-mechanical states.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally investigate the complex states of a viscous thread interacting with a moving belt.
To characterize the transitions between different dynamic regimes as belt speed varies.

Main Methods:

Utilized a precise experimental apparatus to study the fluid-mechanical sewing machine.
Measured thread amplitude and oscillation frequency (omega) near bifurcation points.
Observed and documented various states including meandering, figure-8 patterns, and coiling.

Main Results:

As belt speed (U) decreased, the steady catenary thread bifurcated into a transverse meandering state.
Meandering bifurcated into a two-frequency figure-8 state with both parallel and transverse displacements.
Further reduction in U led to a reversion to single-frequency coiling; complex hysteretic states were observed at larger nozzle heights.

Conclusions:

The observed "zoology" of states can be explained by amplitude equations for resonant interactions between oscillatory modes.
The theoretical framework captures both the axisymmetric coiling at U=0 and the symmetry-breaking effects of the moving belt.