Mechanism of bubble detachment from vibrating walls

Abstract

We discovered a previously unobserved mechanism by which air bubbles detach from vibrating walls in glasses containing water. Chaotic oscillation and subsequent water jets appeared when a wall vibrated at greater than a critical level. Wave forms were developed at water-air interface of the bubble by the wall vibration, and water jets were formed when sufficiently grown wave-curvatures were collapsing. Droplets were pinched off from the tip of jets and fell to the surface of the glass. When the solid-air interface at the bubble-wall attachment point was completely covered with water, the bubble detached from the wall. The water jets were mainly generated by subharmonic waves and were generated most vigorously when the wall vibrated at the volume resonant frequency of the bubble. Bubbles of specific size can be removed by adjusting the frequency of the wall's vibration. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.