Non-linear waves along a rotating non-Newtonian liquid jet

A liquid jet maybe curved due to the influence of wind or gravity but more commonly, as is the case in industrial prilling, due to the rotation of the container from which it emerges. in prilling, pellets are manufactured by utilising the breakup of a curved liquid jet, and liquids commonly used in prilling are non-Newtonian. In this paper we investigate the influence of rotation, surface tension and viscosity on the breakup of a spiralling slender power-law liquid jet with applications to industrial prilling. The non-linear evolution equations for the jet radius and axial velocity are solved numerically using the method of finite differences. Numerical simulations allow us to explore the effects of changing the amplitude (or alternatively the frequency) of initial disturbances on breakup lengths and the size of main and satellite droplets. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.