Transition from convective to absolute instability in a liquid jet

The critical Weber number above which a liquid jet is convectively unstable and below which it is absolutely unstable is determined experimentally for various Reynolds numbers. The experimental results compare very well with the theoretical prediction, and provide the first evidence of transition fr om convective to absolute instability at relatively large Reynolds numbers. Comparisons of the present results with related results are made to expand and clarify the concept of absolute instability in the context of interfac ial fluid dynamics. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.