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Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
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Plateau-Rayleigh instability in a soft viscoelastic material
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, USA. jbostwi@clemson.edu.
Soft Matter
|April 21, 2021
Summary
The Plateau-Rayleigh instability (PRI) in soft cylinders is destabilized by compressibility but stabilized by elasticity. Viscoelasticity affects growth rates and critical wavenumbers but not overall stability.
Area of Science:
- Soft matter physics
- Fluid dynamics
- Material science
Background:
- The Plateau-Rayleigh instability (PRI) describes the tendency of liquid cylinders to break into droplets due to surface tension.
- For soft solids, the instability is influenced by the interplay between elastic forces and capillary forces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a dynamic stability analysis of the PRI for soft cylinders and cylindrical cavities.
- To investigate the effects of viscoelasticity and compressibility on this instability.
Main Methods:
- A dynamic stability analysis was performed on soft cylinders and cylindrical cavities with power-law viscoelastic rheology.
- Laplace transforms were used to make governing equations time-independent, and solutions were constructed using displacement potentials.
- Dispersion relationships were derived, and static stability limits, critical disturbances, and maximum growth rates were computed.
Main Results:
- Elasticity was found to stabilize the PRI, while compressibility destabilized it.
- For incompressible materials, viscoelasticity did not alter stability but reduced growth rates and shifted critical wavenumbers.
- The critical wavenumber's dependence on compressibility was complex for cylinders but predictable for cylindrical cavities.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a comprehensive dynamic stability analysis for soft viscoelastic cylinders and cavities under the PRI.
- Compressibility is a key destabilizing factor, while elasticity provides stabilization.
- The findings offer insights into the behavior of soft materials with surface tension-driven instabilities.
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