TY - JOUR
T1 - Restoring universality to the pinch-off of a bubble
AU - Pahlavan, Amir A.
AU - Stone, Howard A.
AU - McKinley, Gareth H.
AU - Juanes, Ruben
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - The pinch-off of a bubble is an example of the formation of a singularity, exhibiting a characteristic separation of length and time scales. Because of this scale separation, one expects universal dynamics that collapse into self-similar behavior determined by the relative importance of viscous, inertial, and capillary forces. Surprisingly, however, the pinch-off of a bubble in a large tank of viscous liquid is known to be nonuniversal. Here, we show that the pinch-off dynamics of a bubble confined in a capillary tube undergo a sequence of two distinct self-similar regimes, even though the entire evolution is controlled by a balance between viscous and capillary forces. We demonstrate that the early-time self-similar regime restores universality to bubble pinch-off by erasing the system’s memory of the initial conditions. Our findings have important implications for bubble/drop generation in microfluidic devices, with applications in inkjet printing, medical imaging, and synthesis of particulate materials.
AB - The pinch-off of a bubble is an example of the formation of a singularity, exhibiting a characteristic separation of length and time scales. Because of this scale separation, one expects universal dynamics that collapse into self-similar behavior determined by the relative importance of viscous, inertial, and capillary forces. Surprisingly, however, the pinch-off of a bubble in a large tank of viscous liquid is known to be nonuniversal. Here, we show that the pinch-off dynamics of a bubble confined in a capillary tube undergo a sequence of two distinct self-similar regimes, even though the entire evolution is controlled by a balance between viscous and capillary forces. We demonstrate that the early-time self-similar regime restores universality to bubble pinch-off by erasing the system’s memory of the initial conditions. Our findings have important implications for bubble/drop generation in microfluidic devices, with applications in inkjet printing, medical imaging, and synthesis of particulate materials.
KW - Bubble pinch-off
KW - Finite-time singularity formation
KW - Moving contact lines
KW - Universality
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1819744116
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1819744116
M3 - Article
C2 - 31209045
AN - SCOPUS:85068548577
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 116
SP - 13780
EP - 13784
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 28
ER -