Nonlinear instability of liquid jets with thermocapillarity

Abstract

The breakup mechanism of a capillary jet with thermocapillarity is investigated. Effects of the heat transfer from the liquid to the surrounding ambient, the liquid thermal conductivity, and the temperature-dependent surface tension coefficient on the jet instability and the formation of satellite drops are considered. Two different disturbances are imposed on the jet. In the first case, the jet is exposed to a spatially periodic ambient temperature. In addition to the thermal boundary condition, an initial surface disturbance with the same wavenumber as the thermal disturbance is also imposed on the jet. Both in-phase and out-of-phase thermal disturbances with respect to surface disturbances are considered. For the in-phase thermal disturbances, a parameter set is obtained at which capillary and thermocapillary effects can cancel each other and the jet attains a stable configuration. No such parameter set can be obtained when the thermocapillary flows are in the same direction as the capillary flows, as in the out-of-phase thermal disturbances. In the second case, only an initial thermal disturbance is imposed on the surface of the liquid while the ambient temperature is kept spatially and temporally uniform.