Picture of the low-dimensional structure in chaotic dripping faucets

Chaotic dynamics of the dripping faucet was investigated both experimentally. and theoretically. We measured continuous change in the position and velocity of the center of mass of the pendant drop prior to its detachment using a high-speed camera. Continuous trajectories of a low-dimensional chaotic attractor were reconstructed from these data, which was not previously obtained but predicted in our fluid dynamic simulation. From the simulation, we further obtained an approximate potential function with only two variables, the mass of the pendant drop and the position of the center of mass. The potential landscape helps one to understand intuitively how the dripping dynamics can exhibit low-dimensional chaos. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.