T. Killian
K. Langley
T. Truscott
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Brigham Young University

Water is shown sloshing in a hollow, transparent sphere.

When an elastic sphere is partially filled with fluid, the rebound of that sphere can be suppressed. Unlike an empty elastic ball, the fluid mitigates some of the rebound through an impulse driven exchange of energy in which the fluid is forced into a jet inside the ball. This effect of rebound mitigation is independent of fluid viscosity. Instead, the rebound mitigation is proportional to the volume at which the sphere is filled and the height from which it is dropped.

This image represents a jet-like formation made by alcohol inside a red ball. The fluid viscosity, which is different from water, manifests a unique type of jet after impact. The alcohol forms a unique radial-like jet, hollow in the center, which combines at the top to form a smaller inward jet that moves down and inside the cavity.

Related Abstract

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