Active electrostatic control of liquid bridge dynamics and stability.

Stabilization of cylindrical liquid bridges beyond the Rayleigh-Plateau limit has been demonstrated in both Plateau-tank experiments and in short-duration low gravity on NASA KC-135 aircraft using an active electrostatic control method. The method controls the (2,0) capillary mode using an optical modal-amplitude detector and mode-coupled electrostatic feedback stress. The application of mode-coupled stresses to a liquid bridge is also a very useful way to study mode dynamics. A pure (2,0)-mode oscillation can be excited by periodic forcing and then the forcing can be turned off to allow for a free decay from which the frequency and damping of the mode is measured. This can be done in the presence or absence of feedback control. Mode-coupled feedback stress applied in proportion to modal amplitude with appropriate gain leads to stiffening of the mode allowing for stabilization beyond the Rayleigh-Plateau limit. If the opposite sign of gain is applied the mode frequency is reduced. It has also been demonstrated that, by applying feedback in proportion to the modal velocity, the damping of the mode can be increased or decreased depending on the velocity gain. Thus, both the mode frequency and damping can be independently controlled at the same time and this has been demonstrated in Plateau-tank experiments. The International Space Station (ISS) has its own modes of oscillation, some of which are in a low frequency range comparable to the (2,0)-mode frequency of typical liquid bridges. In the event that a vibration mode of the ISS were close to the frequency of a capillary mode it would be possible, with active electrostatic control, to shift the capillary-mode frequency away from that of the disturbance and simultaneously add artificial damping to further reduce the effect of the g-jitter. In principle, this method could be applied to any fluid configuration with a free surface.