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Article
Sub-Hinze Scale Bubble Production in Turbulent Bubble Break-Up
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
  • Aliénor Rivière
  • Wouter Mostert, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Stéphane Perrard
  • Luc Deike
Abstract

We study bubble break-up in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence by direct numerical simulations of the two-phase incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. We create the turbulence by forcing in physical space and introduce the bubble once a statistically stationary state is reached. We perform a large ensemble of simulations to investigate the effect of the Weber number (the ratio of turbulent and surface tension forces) on bubble break-up dynamics and statistics, including the child bubble size distribution, and discuss the numerical requirements to obtain results independent of grid size. We characterize the critical Weber number below which no break-up occurs and the associated Hinze scale dh. At Weber number close to stable conditions (initial bubble sizes d0 ≈ dh), we observe binary and tertiary break-ups, leading to bubbles mostly between 0.5dh and dh, a signature of a production process local in scale. For large Weber numbers (d0 > 3dh), we observe the creation of a wide range of bubble radii, with numerous child bubbles between 0.1dh and 03.dh, an order of magnitude smaller than the parent bubble. The separation of scales between the parent and child bubble is a signature of a production process non-local in scale. The formation mechanism of these sub-Hinze scale bubbles relates to rapid large deformation and successive break-ups: the first break-up in a sequence leaves highly deformed bubbles which will break again, without recovering a spherical shape and creating an array of much smaller bubbles. We discuss the application of this scenario to the production of sub-Hinze bubbles under breaking waves.

Department(s)
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Comments

National Science Foundation, Grant 1548562

Keywords and Phrases
  • bubble dynamics,
  • multiphase flow
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2021 Cambridge University Press, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
6-25-2021
Publication Date
25 Jun 2021
Disciplines
Citation Information
Aliénor Rivière, Wouter Mostert, Stéphane Perrard and Luc Deike. "Sub-Hinze Scale Bubble Production in Turbulent Bubble Break-Up" Journal of Fluid Mechanics Vol. 917 (2021) ISSN: 0022-1120; 1469-7645
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/wouter-mostert/22/