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Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 184501 (2004) [4 pages]

Persistent Holes in a Fluid

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Florian S. Merkt, Robert D. Deegan, Daniel I. Goldman, Erin C. Rericha, and Harry L. Swinney
Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA

Received 10 November 2003; published 5 May 2004

We observe stable holes in a vertically oscillated 0.5 cm deep aqueous suspension of cornstarch. Holes appear only if a finite perturbation is applied to the layer for accelerations a above 10g. Holes are circular and approximately 0.5 cm wide, and can persist for more than 106 cycles. Above a≃17g the rim of the hole becomes unstable, producing fingerlike protrusions or hole division. At higher acceleration, the hole delocalizes, growing to cover the entire surface with erratic undulations. We find similar behavior in an aqueous suspension of glass microspheres.

© 2004 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.184501
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.184501
PACS:
47.50.+d, 47.20.–k, 47.54.+r, 47.55.Kf
 
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