Energy mechanism for the instability of liquid jets with thermocapillarity

Xu and Davis [J. Fluid Mech. 161, 1–25 (1985)] examined the stability of long axisymmetric liquid jet subjected to an axial temperature gradient, finding capillary, surface-wave, and hydrodynamic modes. They showed that capillary breakup can be retarded or even suppressed for a small Prandtl number (Pr < 1) and a large Biot number (Bi ≥ 1). In the present work, the energy mechanism is carried out for these three kinds of flow instabilities, and the mechanism of suppressing capillary breakup is clarified. When the Reynolds number (RB) is not large, the work done by the pressure on the free surface (PS) is the main energy source of the capillary instability. At small Pr and large Bi, the phase difference between the radial velocity and surface deformation increases with RB, leading to the decrease in PS, which prevents the occurrence of capillary breakup. Meanwhile, the work done by thermocapillary force becomes the main energy source, making hydrodynamic modes unstable. The perturbation flow fields are displayed, which shows that the temperature fluctuations of three modes differ from each other.