Static shape and instability of an acoustically levitated liquid drop

There have been observations that an intense sound field can break up a liquid drop in levitation by flattening it drastically through radiation pressure. Using high‐speed photography, it is observed that, for a low‐viscosity liquid, at a high sound intensity, ripples appear on the central membrane of the drop. At a higher intensity, the membrane may atomize by emitting satellite drops from its unstable ripples. For a general viscosity, it might also buckle upward like an umbrella and shatter, or might simply expand horizontally like a sheet and shatter. Using a disklike model for the flattened drop, the phenomenon was studied and good qualitative agreement with the observations was found. It is believed that at low viscosity, the ripples are capillary waves generated by the parametric instability excited by the membrane vibration, which is driven by the sound pressure. Atomization occurs whenever the membrane becomes so thin that the vibration is sufficiently intense. For any viscosity, the vibration leads to a Bernoulli correction in the static pressure, which is destabilizing. Buckling occurs when an existent equilibrium is unstable to a radial oscillation of the membrane because of the Bernoulli effect. Besides, the radiation stress at the rim of the flattened drop, being a suction stress, is also destabilizing, leading to the horizontal expansion and the subsequent breakup.