Linear analysis of the instability of two-dimensional non-Newtonian liquid sheets (Q1303210)

The authors investigate the instability of two-dimensional non-Newtonian liquid sheets moving in an inviscid gas. It is observed by linearized stability analysis that non-Newtonian liquid sheets have a higher growth rate than Newtonian liquid sheets for both symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances, indicating that non-Newtonian liquid sheets are more unstable than Newtonian liquid sheets. The following observations are made by the authors: (a) surface tension effects always resist, whereas the aerodynamic effects promote the occurence and development of instability of non-Newtonian liquid sheets; (ii) liquid viscosity tends to damp the instability in non-Newtonian liquid sheets, whereas the liquid elasticity results in an enhancement of instability; (iii) the growth rate and the instability range of non-Newtonian liquid sheets increase greatly with the gas Weber number, Reynolds number and ratio of gas to liquid density for symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances; (iv) growth rate of symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances on Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquid sheets decreases due to the increase in liquid viscosity, but cut-off wave number remains unchanged; (v) growth rates of symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances decrease with the ratio of deformation retardation to stress relaxation time, but increase with the liquid elasticity, while the instability range does not change; (vi) the maximum growth rate and the dominant wave number of non-Newtonian liquid sheets for symmetric and antisymmetric disturbances are enhanced due to increase in gas Weber number, Reynolds number and the ratio of gas to liquid density, and (vii) the effects of the ratio of deformation retardation to stress relaxation time, Ohnesorge number and elasticity number on maximum growth rate and dominant wave number are relatively weak. The authors report that maximum growth rate of antisymmetric disturbances is always larger than that of symmetric disturbances, while the dominant wave number of antisymmetric disturbances is always smaller than that of symmetric disturbances, which indicates that antisymmetric disturbances always prevail over symmetric disturbances for non-Newtonian liquid sheets.