Experimental and numerical analysis of non-symmetric breakage of liquid columns in an axial gravitational field rotating around an eccentric axis

An experiment in microgravity conditions aboard the TEXUS-23 mission was performed to obtain the deformation up to breakage of a cylindrical liquid column in isorotation around an eccentric axis. In previous work, breakage rotation speed was predicted by a numerical method. This method was validated by comparison with analytical and experimental results. The non-symmetric breakage of the liquid column observed in the experiment, however, was not explained by the combined effect of rotation and eccentricity.

In this work we use an extension of that method that includes an axial gravitational field. Thus the combined effect of rotation, eccentricity and axial gravity in the stability threshold and in the shape of the liquid bridge is analyzed. In particular, this analysis has allowed us to understand the non-symmetric breakage of the liquid column in the experiment.