Perturbed breakup of gas bubbles in water: Memory, gas flow, and coalescence

Abstract

The pinch-off of an air bubble from an underwater nozzle ends in a singularity with a remarkable sensitivity to a variety of perturbations. I report on experiments that break both the axial (i.e., vertical) and azimuthal symmetry of the singularity formation. The density of the inner gas influences the axial asymmetry of the neck near pinch-off. For denser gases, flow through the neck late in collapse changes the pinch-off dynamics. Gas density is also implicated in the formation of satellite bubbles. The azimuthal shape oscillations described by Schmidt et al., can be initiated by anisotropic boundary conditions in the liquid as well as with an asymmetric nozzle shape. I measure the n = 3 oscillatory mode, and observe the nonlinear, highly three-dimensional outcomes of pinch-off with large azimuthal perturbations. These are consistent with prior theory.

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Memory formation in matter
• Collapse of a non-axisymmetric, impact-created air cavity in water
• Curvature Singularity in the Asymmetric Breakup of an Underwater Air Bubble
• Droplet Breakup of the Nematic Liquid Crystal MBBA
• Pinch-off of underwater air bubbles with up--down asymmetry
• Vibration and Nonlinear Resonance in the Break-up of an Underwater Bubble