Underwater bubble pinch-off: transient stretching flow

Abstract

At the point of pinch-off of an underwater air bubble, the speed of water rushing in diverges. Previous studies that assumed radial flow throughout showed that the local axial shape is two smoothly connected, slender cones that transition very slowly (logarithmically) to a cylindrical segment. Our simulations show that even with initially radial flow, a transient vertical flow develops with comparable speeds. Bernoulli pressure draws water into the singularity region while incompressibility forces it away from the neck minimum, generating significant vertical flows that rapidly slenderize and symmetrize the collapse region. This transition is due to a different mechanism, occurring much faster than previously expected. Vertical flows dictate the neck shape evolution.

5 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (7)

• Controlled impact of a disk on a water surface: Cavity dynamics
• Axisymmetric bubble pinch-off at high Reynolds numbers
• Theory of the collapsing axisymmetric cavity
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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Curvature Singularity in the Asymmetric Breakup of an Underwater Air Bubble