Phys. Rev. E 66, 041202 (2002) [11 pages]Surface instability of icicles
Quantitatively unexplained stationary waves or ridges often encircle icicles. Such waves form when roughly 0.1-mm-thick layers of water flow down an icicle. These waves typically have a wavelength of about 1 cm, which is independent of external temperature, icicle thickness, and the volumetric rate of water flow. In this paper, we show that these waves cannot be obtained by a naive Mullins-Sekerka instability but are caused by a quite different type of surface instability related to thermal diffusion and the hydrodynamic effect of a thin water flow. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.66.041202
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.66.041202
PACS:
47.20.Hw, 81.30.Fb
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