The dynamics of elongation and burst of an isolated viscoelastic drop are investigated numerically in the special case of a viscosity ratio $\lambda =1$. We show that the burst threshold is not affected by viscoelasticity itself, whereas the stationary drop morphology is. A dimple at the tips of the drop can even be observed when elastic effects are large. The burst dynamics is very sensitive to the presence of viscoelasticity: at low elasticity burst is slowed down while for large elasticity levels it becomes even faster than the Newtonian situation.

• Received 27 October 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.71.066309