On the stability limits of long nonaxisymmetric cylindrical liquid bridges

There is a self-similar solution for the stability limits of long, almost c ylindrical liquid bridges between equal disks subjected to both axial and l ateral accelerations. The stability limits depend on only two variables; th e so-called reduced axial, and lateral Bond numbers. A novel experimental s etup that involved rotating a horizontal cylindrical liquid bridge about a vertical axis of rotation was designed to test the stability limits predict ed by the self-similar solution. Analytical predictions compared well with both numerical and experimental results. (C) 2000 American Institute of Phy sics. [S1070-6631(00)01704-9].