On the mechanics of high speed liquid jets

Attention is given to the mechanics of high-speed liquid jets in terms of emergence and flight mechanics of a jet flying at speeds which are supersonic relative to the sound speed of the liquid. The question is treated experimentally via an Imacon image converter camera, and theoretically via similarity arguments and the Chaplygin transformation to evaluate liquid overcompression during jet emergence. Taylor instability effects in the jet's flight late time history are discussed along with the effects of Stokes drag on the small liquid-particle shroud around the jet. The hypothesis that subsonic (relative to the liquid sound speed) jets do not undergo the violent decompression process predicted for supersonic jets is tested in an evacuated chamber.