Liquid jet eruption from hollow relaxation

Overview & Synopsis

Using a model experiment, we explore the dynamics of inertial liquid jets arising from a gravitational cavity collapse. The focus of the study is to elucidate the link between both dynamical and kinematical properties of the jet and the initial cavity geometry, for a wide range of physical parameters. We demonstrate that the jets exhibit shape similarity and reveal a robust relationship between the jet tip velocity and the initial cavity geometry, regardless of the details of the collapse process. We argue that this relation reflects a flow focusing mechanism, and we propose a simple model capturing the key features of the erupting jet velocity scaling. The relevance of these results to other jets occurring in e.g. large bubble detachment or wave impact on walls is finally discussed.