Breakup of a low-viscosity liquid thread

Abstract

We examine the breakup of low-viscosity ($\ensuremath{\mu}$) liquid filaments. When $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is small, the filament initially thins as if it were inviscid and its minimum radius ${h}_{m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n}$ obeys a universal scaling law. Here, we use simulations to show that for fluids of sufficiently small $\ensuremath{\mu}$, a coefficient value in the scaling law predicted from computations agrees with theory to three decimal places and inviscid power-law behavior can be observed over 2-3 decades in ${h}_{m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n}$ as ${t}_{b}\ensuremath{-}t\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$ where ${t}_{b}$ is the filament break up time. Transition from the inviscid regime to a viscous one is also demonstrated from simulations.