Surface tension effects in the zero gravity inflow of a drop into a fluid

Abstract:

As a drop of fluid is deposited on the surface of a miscible fluid (that we call the solvent), it undergoes a strong pulling due to its surface rupture and it acquires a kinetic energy independently of gravity. For the drop and the solvent being of the same fluid we observe a drop injection at an initial velocity which scales as the square root of the surface tension of the drop against air. Once injected, the drop develops a transverse instability giving rise to an expanding ring. Viscosity terminates the process and stops the ring. We show that the final ring height follows a scaling law whereas two asymptotical scaling regimes can be identified for the ring radius.