Nonmonodisperse breakup of capillary jets in a variable electric field (Q1183865)

The electrical charging of capillary jets has a strong influence on their stability. Well-known theoretical studies have been devoted to the linear, weakly linear, or finite-amplitude stability of such jets in a constant electric field. In the present paper, an investigation is made in the framework of the full nonlinear equations. The main attention is devoted to effects associated with allowance for a time-variable electric field. It is shown that a sharp decrease of the surface charge may lead to an appreciable decrease in the size of the satellite droplets; allowance for the long-wavelength background also leads to a decrease in the size of the satellite droplets. It is shown that the degree of monodisperseness can be increased by a relatively slowly varying electric field. An ``averaged'' effect of an electric field that varies rapidly in time is found.