Equal-diameter solid disks subjected to an axial gravity field of arbitrary intensity is analyzed for all possible liquid volumes. The boundary of the stability region for axisymmetric shapes (considering both axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric perturbations) have been calculated. It is found that, for sufficiently small Bond numbers, three different unstable modes can appear. If the volume of liquid is decreased from that of an initially stable axisymmetric configuration the bridge either develops an axisymmetric instability (breaking in two drops as already known) or detaches its interface from the disk edges (if the length is smaller than a critical value depending on contact angle), whereas if the volume is increased the unstable mode consists of a nonaxisymmetric deformation. This kind of nonaxisymmetric deformation can also appear by decreasing the volume if the Bond number is large enough. A comparison with other previous partial theoretical analyses is presented, as well as with available experimental results.

N this paper the dynamics of axisymmetric liquid columns held by capillary forces between two circular, concentric, solid disks is considered. The problem has been solved by using a one‐dimensional model known in the literature as the Cosserat model, which includes viscosity effects, where the axial velocity is considered constant in each section of the liquid bridge. The dynamic response of the bridge to an excitation consisting of a small‐amplitude vibration of the supporting disks has been solved by linearizing the Cosserat model. It has been assumed that such excitation is harmonic so that the analysis has been performed in the frequency domain. The particular case of a cylindrical liquid bridge has been analytically studied and the transfer function has been calculated in the cases of oscillation of both disks (either in phase or in counterphase) or only of one of them. The resolution of the general formulation for a noncylindrical liquid bridge has been numerically made by using an implicit finite difference method. In this case, the influence of the volume of the liquid column and of the residual gravity level on the first resonance has been studied, and the results compared, for the inviscid case, with other potential models, both one and three dimensional. To demonstrate the usefulness of this theoretical model in predicting the vibrational behavior of axisymmetric viscous liquid bridges, some experiments have been performed by using the neutral buoyancy technique (also known as the Plateau technique) to simulate reduced gravity conditions, with good agreement between the results of the model and experiments

Bifurcation diagrams of nonaxisymmetric liquid bridges subject to a lateral gravitational force and to both lateral and axial gravitational forces are found by solving the Young–Laplace equation for the interface by a finite difference method. The potential energy of the equilibrium shapes is also calculated. The results obtained show that the slenderness of the bridge determines whether the breaking of the liquid bridge subject to a lateral gravitational force leads to equal or unequal drops. The stability limits calculated are compared with the ones obtained using asymptotic techniques around the cylinder, the agreement being extremely good for a wide range of the parameters.

This paper deals with the influence of axial microgravity on the stability limits of axisymmetric, cylindrical liquid columns held by capillary forces between two circular, concentric, solid disks. A fair number of experiments have been performed and both the maximum and the minimum volume of liquid that a capillary liquid bridge can withstand have been obtained as a function of the geometry of the liquid bridge and of the value of the axial microgravity acting on it. Experimental results are compared with published theoretical predictions made by other investigators and discrepancies between those results criticized.