Dynamics of collapse of free-surface bubbles: effects of gravity and viscosity

Abstract

The rupture of the thin film at the top of a bubble floating at a liquid-gas interface leads to the axisymmetric collapse of the bubble cavity. We present scaling laws for such a cavity collapse, established from experiments conducted with bubbles spanning a wide range of Bond (${10^{-3}<Bo\leq1}$) and Ohnesorge numbers (${10^{-3}<Oh<10^{-1}}$), defined with the bubble radius $R$. The cavity collapse is a capillary-driven process, with a dependency on viscosity and gravity affecting, respectively, precursory capillary waves on the cavity boundary, and the static bubble shape. The collapse is characterised by tangential and normal velocities of the kink, formed by the intersection of the concave cavity opening after the top thin film rupture, with the convex bubble cavity boundary. The tangential velocity $U_t$ is constant during the collapse and is shown to be $U_t=4.5~U_c{\mathcal{W}}_R$, where $U_c$ is the capillary velocity and ${\mathcal{W}}_R(Oh,Bo)={(1-\sqrt{Oh {\mathscr{L}}} )^{-1/2}}$ is the wave resistance factor due to the precursory capillary waves, with $\mathscr{L}(Bo)$ being the path correction of the kink motion. The movement of the kink in the normal direction is part of the inward shrinkage of the whole cavity due to the sudden reduction of gas pressure inside the bubble cavity after the thin film rupture. This normal velocity is shown to scale as $U_c$ in the equatorial plane, while at the bottom of the cavity $\overline{U}_{nb}=U_c(Z_c/R)({\mathcal{W}_R}/ {\mathscr{L}})$, where $Z_c(Bo)$ is the static cavity depth. The total volume flux of cavity-filling, which is entirely contributed by this shrinking, scales as ${Q_T\simeq 2\pi R Z_c U_c}$; remains a constant throughout the collapse.