Theory of the jets ejected after the inertial collapse of cavities with applications to bubble bursting jets

Abstract

The physical mechanism behind the beauty of the iconic image of a drop detaching from the tip of the jet produced when a drop or a stone falls on a pond, is identical to the one driving the 1000 m/s jets impacting a solid substrate when a liquid cavitates near a solid, causing structural damage, or when the micron-sized bubbles ingested by breaking waves burst at the ocean's surface, ejecting nanometric jets with velocities up to 100 m/s that produce part of the sea spray aerosols which favors cloud formation. We show that, due to the large liquid inertia, the radial flow rate established initially remains mostly constant in time during the short instant along which these jets are issued.

Topics & Concepts