The shape of an axisymmetric meniscus in a static liquid pool: effective implementation of the Euler transformation

Abstract

Abstract We examine the classical problem of the height of a static liquid interface that forms on the outside of a solid vertical cylinder in an unbounded stagnant pool exposed to air. Gravitational and surface tension forces compete to affect the interface shape as characterized by the Bond number. Here, we provide a convergent power series solution for interface shapes that rise above or fall below the horizontal pool as a function of contact angle and Bond number. We find that the power series solution expressed in terms of the radial distance from the wall is divergent, and thus rewrite the divergent series as a new power series expressed as powers of an Euler transformed variable; this series is modified to match the large distance asymptotic behaviour of the meniscus. The Euler transformation maps non-physical singularities to locations that do not restrict series convergence in the physical domain, while the asymptotic modification increases the rate of convergence of the series overall. We demonstrate that when the divergent series coefficients are used to implement the Euler transformation, finite precision errors are incurred, even for a relatively small number of terms. To avoid such errors, the independent variable in the governing differential equation is changed to that of the Euler transform, and the power series is developed directly without using the divergent series. The resulting power series solution is validated by comparison with a numerical solution of the interface shape and the small Bond number matched asymptotic solution for the height of the interface along the cylinder developed by Lo (1983, J. Fluid Mech., 132, p.65-78). The convergent power series expansion has the ability to exceed the accuracy of the matched asymptotic solution for any Bond number given enough terms, and the recursive nature of the solution makes it straightforward to implement.