Formation of Droplets from Bursting Bubbles at an Air-Water Interface

by George M. Afeti, Univ de Toulon, La Garde, France,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Water Quality Issues at Fossil Fuel Plants

Abstract:

The breakup of an air bubble at a still water surface leads to the formation of two distinct droplet families known respectively as film drops and jet drops. The former are the tiny fragments of what was originally the bubble film cap, while the latter are the drops resulting from the disintegration by instability of the vertical water jet that rises from the bottom of the collapsing bubble cavity. The droplet production mechanism is investigated using the principles of phenomenological analysis. It is shown that the bursting of bubbles bigger than about 6 mm in diameter produces only film drops and no jet drops. For smaller bubbles, jet drop formation lags film drop production by about 10 ms. These results compare favorably with experimental observations and values obtained from laser holographic visualisations of bursting air bubbles.

Subject Headings: Water surface | Mass transfer | Lasers | Jets (fluid) | Free surfaces | Cavitation

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