Publication Date:
2009-06-01
Description:
A study of the Faraday instability of diffuse interfaces between pairs of miscible liquids of different densities, by means of experiments and by a nonlinear numerical model, is presented. The experimental set-up consisted of a rectangular cell in which the lighter liquid was placed above the denser one. The cell in this initially stable configuration was then subjected to vertical vibrations. The subsequent behaviour of the 'interface' between the two liquids was observed with a high-speed camera. This study shows that above a certain acceleration threshold an instability developed at the interface. The amplitude of the instability grew during the experiments which then led to the mixing of the liquids. The instability finally disappeared once the two liquids were fully mixed over a volume, considerably larger than the initial diffuse region. The results of a companion two-dimensional nonlinear numerical model that employs a finite volume method show very good agreement with the experiments. A physical explanation of the instability and the observations are advanced. © 2009 Cambridge University Press.
Print ISSN:
0022-1120
Electronic ISSN:
1469-7645
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
,
Physics
