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Chaotic rhythms of a dripping faucetAn experiment was conducted which showed that a leaky faucet can offer valuable insights on predicting fluid flow. In this experiment, a flow control and drop detector were connected to the printer port of an IBM PC, which computed and saved the time intervals using a program for droptime compiled with Turbo C. It is noted that the time intervals change from periodic to doubly periodic as the flow rate is increased and then to various forms of chaos, interrupted by windows of periodicity. A number of two- and three-dimensional plots are displayed and discussed. Attention is focused on one of the simpler plots which is approximately parabolic, where each successive time interval is a quadratic function of the preceding interval, with a steepness which depends upon the flow rate. It is shown that a single past analog can predict a dripping faucet with reasonable accuracy 7-10 drops ahead. While such methods are more difficult to apply in higher-dimensional systems, this experiment aids in understanding how fluid flow may be predicted even under conditions of unstable flows caused by increase in velocity.
Document ID
19900056704
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Cahalan, Robert F.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Leidecker, Henning
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Cahalan, Gabriel D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
August 1, 1990
Publication Information
Publication: Computers in Physics
Volume: 4
ISSN: 0894-1866
Subject Category
Physics (General)
Accession Number
90A43759
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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