Jetting onset on a liquid surface accelerated past a submerged cylinder

Abstract A novel experiment is presented to study the initial disturbances on a free surface due to the constant acceleration of liquid around a submerged obstacle. The surface response to different obstacle sizes, initial surface heights and fluid velocities is measured using high-speed videography. Perturbations observed on the surface are classified into either jetting or gravity waves by measuring the steepness of growing liquid columns. A classification phase map between these two regimes is obtained and compared with analytical results by Martín Pardo and Nedić (2021). The agreement between decision boundaries is good for high Froude numbers (high fluid velocities) but deteriorates at lower velocities, where viscosity and surface tension effects (not considered in the analytical model) have a greater predominance. The surface profile and perturbation amplitude measured in experiments are also compared against this analytical model. In all cases, the model accurately predicts the corresponding experimental results at the beginning of the motion, but the prediction error increases with time. It is also observed that faster moving surfaces that lead to the onset of jetting have greater prediction accuracies and longer validity times of the predictions.