A Review on the Stability of Liquid Bridges

Abstract

Errors in theAlthough early studies dealing with the stability of liquid bridges were published long time ago, these studies were mainly concerned with the stability of axisymmetric liquid bridges between parallel, coaxial, equal-in-diameter solid disks, with regard to axisymmetric perturbations. Results including effects such as solid rotation of the liquid column, supporting disks of different diameters and an axial acceleration acting parallel to the liquid column can be found in several works published in the early eighties, although most of these analysis were restricted to liquid bridge configurations having a volume of liquid equal or close enough to that of a cylinder of the same radius. Leaving apart some asymptotic studies, the analysis of non-axisymmetric effects on the stability of liquid bridges (lateral acceleration, eccentricity of the supporting disks) and other not so-classical effects (electric field) has been initiated much more recently, the results concerning these aspect of liquid bridge stability being yet scarce.