Satellite formation and merging in liquid jet breakup

An experimental investigation of the breakup of a liquid jet using high-speed motion pictures has revealed many different breakup mechanims. The influence of disturbance amplitude and frequency on the breakup mechanism for a Weber number range of 25 to 160 is considered. The jet breakup is grouped into several distinct regions, depending on the disturbance wavelength (lambda), and the undisturbed jet diameter (D). Except for the random region (lambda/D less than 3), all the other regions show repeatable patterns of breakup. The boundaries between some of the distinct patterns are obtained for various Weber numbers and disturbance amplitudes. A new type of satellite merge is also discovered which is referred to as the reflexive merging satellite. Other features of the jet breakup, such as satellite/drop size ratio and breakup times, are also considered in detail.