Taylor–Culick speed

This article is about soap film rupture. For the stagnation point flow, see Taylor–Culick flow.

In fluid dynamics, Taylor–Culick speed ( or Taylor–Culick formula) refers to the speed at which a liquid sheet or soap film retracts upon rupture. The formula was derived in 1960 independently by Geoffrey Ingram Taylor and F. E. C. Culick.^[1][2] The formula for the retraction speed is given by^[3]

${\displaystyle V={\sqrt {\frac {2\gamma }{\rho h}}}}$

where ${\displaystyle \gamma }$ is the surface tension, ${\displaystyle \rho }$ is the fluid density and ${\displaystyle h}$ is the initial thickness of the sheet. Prior to Taylor and Culick's work, A. Dupre (1867) and Lord Rayleigh studied this problem.^[4][5]