Giant Bubble Pinch-Off

Raymond Bergmann, Devaraj van der Meer, Mark Stijnman, Marijn Sandtke, Andrea Prosperetti, and Detlef Lohse
Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 154505 – Published 21 April 2006

Abstract

Self-similarity has been the paradigmatic picture for the pinch-off of a drop. Here we will show through high-speed imaging and boundary integral simulations that the inverse problem, the pinch-off of an air bubble in water, is not self-similar in a strict sense: A disk is quickly pulled through a water surface, leading to a giant, cylindrical void which after collapse creates an upward and a downward jet. Only in the limiting case of large Froude numbers does the purely inertial scaling h(logh)1/4τ1/2 for the neck radius h [J. M. Gordillo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 194501 (2005)] become visible. For any finite Froude number the collapse is slower, and a second length scale, the curvature of the void, comes into play. Both length scales are found to exhibit power-law scaling in time, but with different exponents depending on the Froude number, signaling the nonuniversality of the bubble pinch-off.

    • Received 23 December 2005

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.154505

    ©2006 American Physical Society

    Authors & Affiliations

    Raymond Bergmann1, Devaraj van der Meer1, Mark Stijnman1, Marijn Sandtke1, Andrea Prosperetti1,2, and Detlef Lohse1

    • 1Physics of Fluids Group and J. M. Burgers Centre for Fluid Dynamics, Department of Science and Technology, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
    • 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Johns-Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA

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    Issue

    Vol. 96, Iss. 15 — 21 April 2006

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