The stability of a twodimensional rising bubble

Qing Nie and Saleh Tanveer

Citation: Physics of Fluids 7, 1292 (1995); doi: 10.1063/1.868518

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 The stability of a two-dimensional rising bubble
Qing Nie and Saleh Tanveer
Departmentof Mathematics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
(Received 15 November 1994; accepted 7 February 1995)
The stability of an inviscid two-dimensional bubble subject to two-dimensional disturbances is
considered and the bubbles are found to be linearly stabIe for all Weber numbers, for which a steady
solution is known. Certain aspects of the nonlinear initial value problem are also studied. An initial
condition that consists of a superposition of a suitable symmetric eigenmode (of the linear stability
operator) on a steady state is found to result in pinching of the bubble neck as it tends to oscillate
about the steady state. An estimate of the threshold amplitude of such a disturbance needed to cause
breakup of a large aspect ratio bubble is obtained. The presence of gravity appears to inhibit this
pinching process. 0 1995 American Institute of Physics.

I. INTRODUCTION gravity and viscosity; once this velocity is determined, grav-

The motion of a bubble in a liquid is of significant in-
terest in a variety of technological and industrial situations.12
Among those studies, the inviscid fluid theory has been ap-
plied quite usefully to the motion of bubbles, subject to sur-
face tension in liquids of small viscosity. In general, at Rey-
nolds numbers greater than 200, the Weber number
comparing capillary and nonviscous hydrodynamic stresses
becomes predominant as the parameter upon which stability
and other properties depend.3 The relevance of inviscid
theory is clear in the work of Saffman4 and Moore;*-7 later it
has been explored further by Miksis et al., and others.
Benjamin3 explored some properties of inviscid bubbles in-
herited from the underlying Hamiltonian dynamics.
One of the important and interesting issues in the dy-
namics of a rising bubble is its stability. Batchelorg discussed
a mechanism by which convective instability on the upper
surface of a rising bubble can cause big bubbles to break up.
Merion studied the linear stability of three-dimensional dis-
turbances on a steady axisymmetric bubble calculated first
by Miksis et aL8 ke found that all the computed steady-state
solutions are linearly stable. However, due to numerical dif-
ficulties, this computation is restricted to bubbles whose as-
ity and viscous forces are ignored and the shape of the
bubble and the stability of the flow are determined by the
balance between inviscid pressure and surface tension.
Physically, the calculations given here are relevant when the
speed of bubble centroid is small (i.e., the Weber number is
small). The results are also physically relevant when the vis-
cous dissipation and the drag force remain in balance
throughout the dynamic process of bubble oscillation, though
we are uncertain if this is possible in a physically relevant
limit.
In our study, over the entire range of Weber numbers for
which steady-state solutions are known to exist, we investi-
gate the spectrum of the linear stability operator for distur-
bances that are symmetric or antisymmetric about the bubble
axis aligned with the flow at m. It is found that all known
steady-state solutions are linearly stable to both symmetric
and antisymmetric disturbances; these agree qualitatively
with Merions result for the axisymmetric bubble in the
range of his computation. The superposition of an eigenmode
on a steady bubble results in periodic oscillation in the lin-
earized evolution equation. Moreover, for a steady-state
bubble with aspect ratio 8.46143, we find that among the
first six smallest eigenvalues, the relationship ukk=ai-t Cj

pect ratio, defined as the ratio of the longer to the shorter axis
of the bubble, is less than 5. For the equivalent two-
dimensional (2-D) problem, Shankarl numerically com-
puted steady-state bubbles with an aspect ratio from 1 to CQ,
the latter case corresponding to a pinching bubble. Earlier,
McLeod12 found the exact solution for a particular Weber
number. Shankarl extended these solution perturbatively
and TanveerL3 explored the analytic structure of the 2-D so-
lutions for arbitrary Weber numbers. However, to the best of
our knowledge, no stability analysis has been performed on
these 2-D solutions. Because the shape of a bubble with large
aspect ratio is much more deformed and has negative curva-
ture in parts of the interface, which is different from smaller
aspect ratio bubbles, the stability of such steady solutions is
of particular interest.
In this paper, we investigate the stability of all known
steady-state solutions in a 2-D inviscid fluid. Following
Merion, we assume that the constant rising velocity of the
steady-state bubble is determined by the balance between the
holds for certain i,j,k; this is a necessary though not suffi-
cient condition for instability in a weakly nonlinear limit.
Another aspect of our calculation is the fate of highly
deformed steady bubbles near pinching when they are dis-
turbed. We find that the bubble breaks up dynamically as it
tries to oscillate about the steady state. The phenomenon is
suggested by the linear stability modes and confirmed by
calculation of appropriate initial value problem. As expected,
the threshold level of disturbances necessary to induce
breakup decreases when the aspect ratio of the steady bubble
is increased. Also, in such cases, only disturbances sy,mmet-
ric about the axis of bubble motion cause a bubble to pinch,
and some modes appear to be more efficient energetically
than others in inducing such a breakup. Moreover, we find
that the introduction of gravity in the initial value problem
seems to inhibit bubble breakup.
In Sec. II, we use a standard conformal mapping to for-
mulate the mathematical equations for the steady state, the
linear stability, and the nonlinear evolution problems. In Sec.

1292 Phys. Fluids 7 (6), June 1995 1070-6631/95/7(6)/l 292/l 5/$6.00 Q 1995 American Institute of Physics
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 III, we discuss numerical methods of solving these equa- lation at ~0. Using (J;t) as independent variables rather than
tions. In Sec. IV we present some results about the linear (x,y ,t), it can be shown that (1) is equivalent to
stability and breakup of the bubble. In Sec. IV, we conclude
with some remarks. Finally, in the Appendix, we introduce a
different formulation for the linear stability problem when an
exact steady-state solution is available for a certain Weber
number. We fmd that in this case, the linear stability problem 6)
is equivalent to finding an appropriate solution to a third-
order linear ordinary differential equation. Numerically com- on the unit circle ]fl =l. The kinematic condition (2) on the
puted eigenvalues and eigenfunctions using the methods of free boundary can be expressed as
Sec. III are found to satisfy this ordinary differential equation
at this Weber number.
Re(-$)=Re($), (7)

for ld=l.
II. MATHEMATICAL FORMULATION The normalization of the bubble area to a value rr im-
plies
The liquid outside the bubble is assumed to be incom-
pressible, inviscid, and irrotational with density p; the inside
of the bubble is vacuum, and gravity, denoted by g, is di-
rected toward the negative x axis, and surface tension is de- j=l
noted by S. We now nondimensionalize length scales by L,
where rrL2 is the initial bubble area, and velocities by V, The nondimensional energy E can be computed by using
where V = a. Here L, V*, and p are used to nondi- E=SE+KE+PE, (9
mensionalize all physical quantities. We introduce C#Jto be
the velocity potential and $ the streamfunction. The Bernoul- where SE is the surface energy determined by
lis equation on the free boundary becomes 2T
f#at+~v2-K+Gx=0, SE= o jzvjdv, (10)
(1) J
where G=pL2glS and K is the curvature of the free bound-
KE is the kinetic energy determined by
ary. The kinematic condition on the interface is
K&-; 2r- -
I 0 $4, dv,
where ii is the outward normal direction (toward the fluid) of and PE is the potential energy given by
the free surface and Vi is the fluid normal velocity of a point G 2.n
at the bubble surface. The conformal map z(c,t) from the PE= z x2yy dv, (12)
inside of a unit circle in the 5 plane to the physical flow I0
domain (z==x+iy), with l=O mapping to z=a, can be de- where c$+ &iii= w - Uz, and the integrals in (lo)-(12) are
composed into computed on the unit circle l=ei.
a-l(t) A. Steady-state equations
z(l,tj= - +fl(Lt),
% Following Shankar, though with somewhat different
where a -.l(t)<O and real by using the third degree of free- notation and formulation, we investigate the steady-state so-
dom in the Riemann mapping theorem, and fr( J,t) is ana- lution in a frame where the bubble is stationary and the non-
lytic for 14~1 with the form dimensional fluid velocity at * is We. From (l), the steady-
state form of Bernoullis equation with G =0 can be written
as
fi(52tlz5 aj(t)Lj, (4)
j=O 1
7
i
V2- K=fl 2 (13)
for 1461. Similarly, in a frame where there is a constant
velocity V, at m along the Re(z) direction, the complex ve-
where O=+t is a Bernoulli constant, related to physical pa-
locity potential w= ++ r,& has the form
rameters by the relation
W a-l(t)
fl= ~~Pv:+Pcn-Po)L
W(%J) = + ~ bj(t)5j,

5 j=O s .

for IdGl,where We=V,,lV* = V,m is the nondimen- Here, pm and p. are the pressures at infinity and inside the
sional fluid velocity at m; We is also the definition of the bubble, respectively. For the steady state, (3) can be written
Weber number. Note that in (5) we have ruled out any circu- as

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 (15) i(5,t)=~ ~j(t)i~'i, (23
j=O

and the complex velocity potential (5) reduces to

w(l)=-We d-l 06)

G({,t)=E 6j(t)ilj, (34)
j=l

From the above representation of zs and w, it is easy to see with real Gj and gj. This can be seen by inspection of (19)
that they satisfy the steady-state kinematic equation. Let and (20). Notice there is no l/C in (23) for antisymmetric
l&v correspond to the bubble surface; then (13) is equiva- modes, because a-r in (3) is real and negative and no imagi-
lent to nary coefficient of 115 can be entertained in (23) for super-
position on the -ljl term in (15). Since the steady flow
i]$]=[--&Im(?)]+fi. (17) velocity at COis maintained by the disturbance, there can be
no l/J term in (24) either.
The normalization condition on the bubble area (8) reduces
to
C. Nonlinear evolution equations
d?, Uf9 Another form of (6) and (7) is convenient for computa-
tion of the solution to the initial value problem. (A similar
Given R (or We), we can determine We (or n), and the cor- formulation was given in the Rayleigh Taylor problemr5.)
responding bubble shape by calculating dj for j&-l in (15). For the kinematic equation (7), z,/&~ is analytic for j&Z1
from the power series representation of z, therefore, for
l3. Linear stability equations Id-a
In a standard way (see Ref. 14 for another application of
such a formulation), we decompose z = zs + ~2, w = ws + ~6, g= & $J ~)M(i)F, (25)
where zs, ws is the steady-state solution. Substituting these
into (6) and (7), we have the following linear stability equa- where
tions for G=O on l=.&:

i26)
Re( $)=Re( 3) (19)

and In general, an arbitrary constant needs to be added to the

right-hand side of (25). However, since ztl&ri6-+ - ci _ r/a _ t
as J-0, which is real, as is the right-hand side of (25), this
Re(iL,)=Re( $?i-]:]Re( s-2)
arbitrary constant must be zero. If we analytically continue
the above equation to Ia=1 by collecting half the residue of
+&[Im($)Re($)+Im(~--2)]. the integrand, we obtain

(20) Z=M(5)+ ----T XL,,J

2;, +wi) yy (27)
b
From the general power series representation of the so-
lution to (6) and (7), it is easy to prove that a!(t), bj(t) for on ld=l. Let g=eiv, the above equation can be written as
j3-1 remain real if ai( bj(0) are real initially. This im-
plies, in particular, that there exist symmetric disturbances zt=(E(v)+i~E(v)l}(-it,)t W
for which
where
ii-l(t) Co
i(PJ)= ~ 5 +C c;j(t)5i, (21)
j=O flE(v)]= $ j-ozmE(.)cot q dv (29)

A
y +5 b,(f)@, and
qp,t)=We (22)
j=O
00)
with real aj and bj. From the above representation,
$,d.?,--+ We as l--+0. This shows that the disturbance of the
flow preserves the original tlow velocity at ~0.Another set of We require that the flow at ~0 does not change in time; it
disturbances are antisymmetric, for which corresponds to b-,(t)= We a-r(t). Then, from (3) and (5),

1294 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer
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 28.0

16.2 - 16.8

4
12.4 - IJ 12.0

- g 80
8.6
& .

- 4.1
4.8

1.1 -! 1 I 0.0

0.1 -1 .B -0.8 -8.6 -0.3 -8.1 0.1

-1.0 -8.8 -0.6 -8.3 -8.1

(a)Q (4 Q

16.2 -
2E.8
I
16.0
1
-\

12.4 -
oh
9 12.8

8.6 -
52 8.0

Gl

4.8
4.8 -

1.1. ' 8.8

0.3 0.5 0.6 0.8 0.0 8.2 B.;b) We 0.5 0.6 8.8
0.8 8.2

(b)We

FIG. 1. The aspect ratio of the steady-state solution as a function of (a) Cl FIG. 3. The linear stability eigenvalues for symmetric disturbances. The six
and (b) Rh. smallest frequencies (a) versus fi and (b) versus tve. The half-asterisks are
those analytically computed by using (36) for Cl= -1 (We=O).

28.8 I I I I I
I
25.0

16.B

,h
g 12.0

=I
d
E a.0
13.6 h

4.0

0.0
6.0 -8.8 -0.6 d.3 -8.1 El.1

-1.0 -0.6 -*.3 -0.1 8.1

(4 Q
MQ

25.0 I I I I

21.2

h
17.4
2

2
W 13.6

g 9.8

0.0
6.0 0.0 0.2 0s(b) 0.5 0.6 8.8
0.3 0.5 0.6 8.8
0.0 0.2 We
(b)We

FIG. 4. The linear stability eigenvalues for antisymmetric disturbances. The

FIG. 2. The total energy of the steady-state solution as a function of (a) CZ six smallest frequencies (a) versus n and (b) versus We. The half-asterisks
and (b) Tie. are those analytically computed by using (36) for CL=-1 [cve=O).

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 6 6 I 1 I
I I I I I

4-

-6 I I I I 1 I -6 I I I I

-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=o) x (t=T/4)

-1

-4

-6 I I I I I I -6
-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -1.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 8.4

x (t=T/2) x (t=3T/4)

FIG. 5. The effect of a symmetric mode with the smallest frequency on a steady-state solution corresponding to fi=O.O55 80 (We=O.5066). The dotted cmve
is the steady-state solution, and the solid curve is the disturbed configurations. Here T421.71 is one period of the oscillation.

wt- (,,/z$z, is analytic for ld<l. Consequently, using the (17) at N points on the upper half semicircle,
same procedure as above, without any loss of generality, Ber- &=Exp[ ik?r/(N- 1 )], where k is an integer ranging from 0
noullis equation (6) on c=ei becomes to N-l. Now we have N nonlinear functions with N un-
knowns dj for j=O,..., N- 2 and B, . W e solve the nonlinear
w,=Wz,+F(v)+i3qF(v)], (31) system by a Newton method for a given yS, then use (18) to
2, computed-,, and finally use W e = I,/!, iI= yJd_, to
where obtain the relationship between fi and We.

(32)
B. Linear stability computation
III. NUMERICAL METHODS For symmetric modes> we truncate the expressions (21)
and (22) at the ii,-, and b,-, term, respectively, substitute
A. Steady-state computation
these into (19) and (20), and evaluate the two equations at N
W e will assume di in (15) to be real, i.e., the bubble is points on the upper half semicircle, &= Exp[ ik?r/(N - l)] ,
symmetric about the flow direction at a. Bifurcation studyI where k is an integer ranging from 0 to N - 1. Now we have
suggested that no other solution bifurcates from this branch. a linear system of ODE in the form Akt=B8, where A and
Instead of solving for We, dir and dj for j&O for a given a, B are two 2NX2N matrices with iT=(&l,...,Li,v-Z,
we find that it is more convenient to solve for B,= $ W e 2 d-r be* * *b,-r). W e look for a normal mode solution to this
and dj for jZ=O with y,=fld- r specified. In this case, the system, c;j(t)=epj and ij(f)=eUqj. Thus, we obtain a
area constraint equation (18) is decoupled from Bernoullis generalized eigenvalue problem uAX= BX, where
equation. Once dj for ja0 is determined, the area constraint
XT-(&L, ,..-,pN-Z,yO.yN-1). (33)
equation (18) can be used to find dvl. Numerically, we trun-
cate the expression (15) at the term dNe2, and evaluate the Taking advantage of the block structure and the nonsingular-

1296 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer
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 6 6

-6 -6

-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0..4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=o) x (t=T/4)

-6 h -6

-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 '0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=T/2) x (t=3T/4)

FIG. 6. The effect of an antisymmetric mode with the smallest frequency on a steady-state solution corresponding to CI=O.O55 80 (We=O.5066). The dotted
curve is the steady-state solution, and the solid curve is the disturbed configurations. Here T- 15.84 is one period of the oscillation.

ity of A, we reduce the problem to a standard eigenvalue
(rX=A -lBX, which is solved by a standard package
LAPACK.
For antisymmetric modes, we truncate the expressions
(23) and (24) at the terms iG,- r and ibN , respectively. Since
(19) and (20) automatically hold at {=-i,l, we choose the
collocation points on the unit semicircle at &=Exp[i(kh
+ $z)], where h = rr/N and k ranges from 0 to N-1. By
assuming an eUt dependence, similar to the symmetric case,
the stability equation reduces to vAX=BX, where
XT= (PO,...a+1741YN).
obtained by the fourth-order Runge-Kutta method. Then tms
method is spectrally accurate in space and fourth-order accu-
rate in time.
For the free surface problem with surface tension, spe-
cial care must be taken in the numerical method. The pres-
ence of the surface tension leads to stiffness,17 we must take
a small time step for an explicit ODEsolver. Also, the high
derivative in the curvature calculation are known to result in
the numerical instabilities.** W e use Fourier filtering to damp
the highest modes and control this source of numerical insta-
bility. In our computation, a 25th-order Fourier filtering is
(34) implemented, Le.,

C. Computation of nonlinear evolution Fflter(cj) =e-zo(bl~~)25~j, (3-5)

First, we truncate the power series representation of z, w
in (3) and (5) at the aN and bN terms, respectively, and
choose the 2N evenly spaced out collocation points on ]a = 1,
starting with C=l. Then we compute E,F in (30) and (32) in
Fourier space, and obtain their Hilbert transforms through a
discrete FFT in O(N log Nj operation. Now, it becomes a
standard pseudospectral method. W e advance the finite ODE
system by using the fourth-order Adams-Moulton
predictor-corrector method, where the starting values are
where cj is the Fourier coefficient. This makes the numerical
method 25th order in space and fourth order in time. Also, to
control the noise in a long time run, we set a tolerance level
e=10-14, such that when 1cjl S(E we set such ci to zero.
IV. NUMERICAL RESULT
First of all, we discuss the steady-state solutions. By
comparing calculation for N=32 and N=64, it is found that

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 b

I I I I I -6
-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

-1

-4

-6
-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 ,0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=10.7) x &=14.3)

FIG. 7. The linear breakup of a bubble for a symmetric eigenmode of amplitude e=O.l, corresponding to the smallest frequency at CL=O.O54 13 (We=O.4904).
The dotted curve is the steady state and the solid curves are the bubble shape at different times,

ldjl <lo-l4 when j>16 for the entire range of calculation.
For jG16 the maximum error found by comparing solution
for N=32 and N=64 is <lo-. We find that the pinching of
the bubble (i.e., the infinite aspect ratio) occurs when We
=0.486 471 7, corresponding to Kl=O.O53 682 5; there is no
trouble in obtaining high precision in our computation. This
corresponds to I= -0.453 678 2 in Shankarsl notation,
where it is to be noted that only a four digit accurate value
was quoted due to numerical difficulties & using the recur-
rence relation to determine power series coefficients. Figure
l(a) shows the relationship between the aspect ratio and the
Weber number We while Fig. l(b) shows the relationship of
aspect ratio and !Ll. We notice that two different steadystates
with different aspect ratios are possible for a given Weber
number over a certain range. Figures 2(a) and 2(b) show the
total energy of the steady-state solution as a function of We
and Cl. The turning points in the plots account for the fact
that there are two different steady states fof given We (or CL)
in a certain range. However, using the numerical procedure
described in Sec. 111A, we found that the relation between
iid-, and f We2 d-, is one to one, so the comhutation
around the turning point of Figs. 2(a) and 2(b) posed no
additional difficulties. Note that the energy increases mono-
tonically with aspect ratio, a situation different from another
Hamiltonian system: a stea,dy two-dimensional water wave
with increasing wave height.
Now we study linear stability. First, we check the accu-
racy of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors from the linear sta-
bility computation by doubling N. For both symmetric and
antisymmetric computations, we find that for N=32, the five
smallest eigenvalues in absolute value and the corresponding
eigenvectors are accurate to ten digits; for N=64, the eigen-
values with 16 least absolute values and corresponding
eigenvectors are accurate to 14 digits. The proximity of
points on different parts of a bubble close to pinching causes
no accuracy problem in this conformal mapping formulation,
since the nearloss of univalence is not accompanied by ap-
proaching singularities of the conformal map z( %,t). SFcond,
we cotipare the linear stability calculation with the nonlinear
computati&. Sptcifically, for a given fi with corresponding
steady state Is, w, we compute a specific eigenmode
~?(5,t),G;(l,t) of the linear stability operator, normalized
such that the largest component pj in (33) or (34) is unity.
We then let zo=z+&([,O) and wo=w+~&(~,O) to be the
initial condition for the nonlinear initial value problem. We
check that [z(s,t)-~~(S,t)]/~~~(r,t) as e--+0. Third, the

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 -b I -6 -
-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=o.o) x (t=7.2)

6 6

-4

-6 -6
-0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4 -0.4 -0.2 -0.1 0.1 0.2 0.4

x (t=10.7) x (t=13.8)

FIG. 8. Nonlinear breakup of a bubble. The dotted curve is the steady state and the solid curves represent the bubble shapes at different times. Here
n=O.O54 13 (We=O.4904) and e=O.l.

eigenmodes are found to preserve the area of the bubble,
since the flux of the fluid at infinity is unchanged by the
linear disturbance. Also, for fl=O, the numerically deter-
mined eigenvalues and eigenvectors are found to satisfy the
third-order linear differential equation derived in the Appen-
dix. Finally, in the limit of We-SO (a-+--l), the computed
eigenvalues and eigenvectors for symmetric disturbances are
found to agree with analytically computed eigenvalues,
*k=iJm,
shown as a half-asterisk on the frequency axis in Figs. 3 and
4. The corresponding eigenfunctions are
ik(v)=Cik(t)ei(k-l)v, Gk(v)=ik(t)eikv,
where 2k(t) = Re(e ieSukt), ik(t) = Re( - idI
X efefak) for k#O, 1, and t) is a arbitrary constant phase
angle. Fo! k=O, &(t)=O, 6,(t)=& while for k=l,
;i r(t) = 1, b t (t) =O. For antisymmetric disturbances, the ei-
genvalues are also given by (36) with corresp.onding eigen-
functions,
ik(y)=i~k(t)ei(k-l)v, hk( v) = ii;k(t)eikv,
for k#O,l, For k=O, cio(t).=O, i,(t>=l, while for k=l,
i1(t) =l, b,(t) =O. Notice that the complex conjugates of
the above eigenvalues and corresponding eigenfunctions are
also eigenvalues and eigenfunctions.
For symmetric set of disturbances on a steady bubble for
arbitrary Weber number, we find four zero eigenvalues with
only two independent eigenvectors of the form
(O,l,O ,...) 0,o )... )- (39)
(36) and
(O,O,O ,...) l,o ,... ), (40)
where the only nonzero entry 1 in (40) corresponds to q. in
(37) (33). The degeneracy of the eigenvectors can be explained in
the following manner. A repeated eigenvalue c that does not
have as many independent eigenvectors corresponds to time
dependence of the form terrt,t2e*,..., etc. In our case, since
CT=O,this suggests a possible time dependence that is a poly-
nomial in t. We notice that a linear time dependence of $
with all other eigenmodes in (19) and (20) suppressed would
correspond to another steady state, with a slightly different i-1
in (13). Such a perturbed steady state has a linear time de-
(38) pendence in the frame of the original steady state, since it

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14.139.185.183
18 Oct 2016 04:57:08
 d 20.6 -
.2
%
s
:
a 20.2 -
t:

20.0 I I I I
8.0 2.0 5.5 a.3 8.042 8.048
Time(a) (4 Q

18.3 - 4.0

h
2 10.1 -
z
W
.2
-ii
9.7 -
$

9.5 1 I I I I I
0.0 2.8 5.5 8.3 11.0 13.8 8.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.70

Time (b) (b) We

FIG. 9. Energy evolution corresponding to the computation in Fig. 8. FIG. 11. Linear prediction of the threshold amplitude cmminfor the breakup of
the bubble. (a) Eminvs hb for the smallest frequency from the linear stability
computation. (b) eminvs Rz.
translates at a constant velocity. This explains a two-fold
degeneracy of the eigenvector (40) corresponding to u=O. 0.31
Again, for symmetric perturbation that leads to another per-
0.24
turbed steady state with different area, the perturbed, bubble
translates with respect to the original steady state along the
8.18
24
a 0.12

0.06

0.08
8.030 0.036 0.842 1.048 0.054 0.060

(a> Q
0.30 I I I I
:
0.24

!a.18
.2
a 8.12
E
4 0.06

0.0pI

0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60

b.l 9.0 12.0 15.0 (b) We

Time
FIG. 10. The neck width of bubble as a function of time for the computa-
tions in Figs. 7 and 8. The dotted curve is the neck width for linear compu-
tation while the solid curve represents a nonlinear computation.
FIG. 12. Linear prediction of the threshold amplitude for the breakup of a
bubbje. (a) Here eminvs R for the second and third smallest frequency from
the linear stability computation. (b) eminvs We. The solid curve is for the
second smallest frequency. The dotted cmve is for the third smallest fre-
quency.

1300 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer
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 6 I I I I

1
* .-....<
i.
.-.. ...I
.:. .. ..,'
4

1
!
%...
.
..:.:>
_:.
1

:.
i

...
h h

..*
y- ..../i
4: 0
-1 :. .. . -1

-4
.*.
<..'
a... . . . .
--.

. . . ...'
=.,

-4
L.
B!
-6 i I I I I -6 I I I I

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=o.o) x (t=1.0)

h h
-1

-4

-6 -6
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=2.0) x (t=2.9)

FIG. 13. Nonlinear computation for the steady state We=O.5731 (fi=O.O578), with the second smallest frequency with an amplitude l =+,,=O.117, The linear
period is T=5.796.

Re(z) direction. This linear dependence in time accounts for
another repetition of (+=O with corresponding two-fold de-
generate eigenvector (39). For an antisymmetric set of dis-
turbances, we have two zero eigenvalues with one indepen-
dent eigenvector of the form
(1,O )...) 0,o )... ).
Similar to the symmetric case, the degeneracy of above ei-
genvector corresponding to cr=O results from the existence
of a perturbed steady state that is shifted perpendicular to the
axis of bubble motion with respect to the steady-state bubble,
but translates steadily.
Now we examine the nonzero eigenvalues. We find that
for both the symmetric and antisymmetric case, all nonzero
eigenvalues CTare of the form (+= toi, where w is real and
>O. Figures 3(a) and 3(b) show the the six smallest frequen-
cies o for symmetric disturbances as functions of We and 0,
respectively. Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show the six smallest fre-
quencies for the antisymmetric case.
Figure 5 shows the effect of a symmetric mode, with the
smallest frequency w=O.2894 superposed on a steady-state
solution for TVi~O.5066 (corresponding to Q=O.O55 80),
where l =O.l. Similarly, Fig. 6 shows the case for the anti-
symmetric mode, with the the smallest frequency 0=0.3968
for the same We. We notice from Fig. 5 that the perturbed
bubble oscillates about a steady state with corresponding We.
However, for more deformed steady state, such as the one
with We=O.4904 (In=O.O54 13) (Fig. 7), we find that the
oscillation with amplitude e=O.l leads to a breakup of the
bubble for the symmetric mode with the smallest frequency
(41) 0=0.2617.
In order to verify that this is not a particular feature of
the linearized dynamics, we carry out the nonlinear compu-
tation for this case. The initial condition of the nonlinear
computation is chosen to be
cz
z(~,0)=z~(~)+Ei(~,0)+e2i, (42)
2
~(~,O)=W"(~)+E~(~.O)+E~ We -, (43)
5
where zS and w are the corresponding steady states, (i, 6) is
the eigenfunction corresponding to a=0.2617i, and 2 is a
number obtained by setting the area of bubble corresponding
to z&O) equal to the area of bubble corresponding to z.
Following the nonlinear evolution of the bubble, we find that
the bubble neck indeed shrinks to zero in finite time (Fig. 8),

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer 1301
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 -6 I I I I I

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=O.O) x (t=O.B)

6 I I I I 6 I I 1 I

4 -........

=.* .I
-. _:.
1.
1

h
.I
-1

!
.:. ..,
.: c
f
-4 z __....A..

-6 I I I I -6
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=1.2) x (t=1.6)

FIG. 14. Nonlinear computation for the steady state Fk=O.5731 (C&=0.0578), with the third smallest frequency with an amplitude ~=~~,,=0.115. The linear
period is T=3.672.

qualitatively similar to the linearized dynamics shown in Fig. where i is determined from (21). If we only consider the set
7. The result is shown for N=256 and time step At of perturbation of the form ~j =Re(eaipi), let c+=io and use
=O.OOO25, the energy is conserved to 10m9, and resolution (15) and (21), we obtain
checks show that the centroid velocity is accurate up to lo-.
Figure 9 shows the surface tension energy and kinetic energy D nedr=A + E[B cos(wt) + C sin( ot)], (45)
[using (10) and (ll)] as a function of time as the bubble goes
through the motion illustrated in Fig. 8. Figure 10 shows the where
neck of the bubble as a function of time for both nonlinear
and linear computation corresponding to the evolution shown
in Fig. 8. It shows a delay of the breakup time for nonlinear A=-2d-, (46)
computation. Because the nonlinear evolution excites a lot of
modes other than the starting linear eigenmode, we notice
that the curve from the nonlinear study is not as smooth as
that for linear computation; this is moreso for larger E. For (47)
antisymmetric disturbances, we could not find any cases for
which a bubble breaks up.
and
Now a natural question to ask is what is the smallest
amplitude of. the perturbation that can cause a bubble to
break up. From the linear stability calculation of the symmet-
ric disturbances, we know the neck distance Dneck for the (48)
linear motion is
The pinching of the bubble corresponds to Dneck=O, it im-
D neck=ZS(-l)-ZS(l)+E[i(-l,t)-~(l,t)], (44) plies that

1302 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer
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 6

-6 I I I I -6 1 I I I

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=O.O) x (t=5.0)

f.
i.
. *............
.:.
7--l---
1 . ,.I
6 I I I I

h4:ci !
-1

-4

-6 I I
:

C....
,:.

1
.__._....'.

I
'.
'I..
-..
.Z

I -6 I I I I

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=10.0) x (t=15.0)

FIG. 15. Nonlinear computation for the steady state W=O.5731 (0=0.0578), with the smallest frequency with an amplitude e=O.154. The linear period is
T=14.706. It has the same energy as that of the second smallest frequency (Fig. 13).

the second smallest frequency w=1.084, with E,,=O.117,

(49) we find the computed minimum neck distance to be
4.38X10v5 at t=2.88, as seen in Fig. 13. A similar compu-
where 0u=--arctan(C/B). The above equation has solutions tation for the third smallest frequency w=1.711 with
if and only if E,i,=O.115 is seen in Fig. 14, where the bubble surface self-
intersects maximally at t=1.64, with the absolute value of
(50) neck width equal to 2.39X10m4. Thus, it seems that the lin-
ear theory gives a good prediction in these cases about the
Therefore, for the linear motion, the bubbles break up when- perturbation amplitude necessary for bubble breakup.
ever E satisfies the above relationship. W e define W e also compare the effects of different types of sym-
metric perturbation with the same energy to see if some types
(51) of perturbation are more efficient than others in causing
bubble breakup. W e choose the same steady state as in Fig.
where we normalize pi, SO that that the largest lpjl= 1. Fig- 13, and perturb it with the smallest-frequency eigenmode
ures 11(a) and 11(b) shows the relationship between the with amplitude e=O.154, such that the perturbed bubble has
threshold Eminvs IYE, (2 for the smallest frequency, and Figs. the same energy (=22.024) as that of the one in Fig. 13. W e
12(a) and 12(b) shows the similar relationship for the second find no breakup of the bubble, as seen in Fig. 15. (The period
and third [shown in dotted curves) smallest frequency. of linear motion here is 14.706.) Similar computation is done
To see how well the linear prediction (51) for the thresh- for the third smallest frequency with ~=0.076, as seen in Fig.
old disturbance amplitude holds, we compute the initial 16 (the period of linear motion here is 3.674.) Therefore, in
value problem with an initial condition of the form (42) and this case of disturbance in the form of eigenmodes, the one
(43), where E= emin; we limit our calculation to cases where corresponding to the second smallest eigenvalue is most en-
Eminis relatively small. When We=O.5731 (fl=O.O578), for ergetically efficient in causing bubble breakup. Very exten-

Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer 1303
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 6 6 I I I I
I I I I

. .. . ,:.
. .. ,:-
I

h ;-

.: :.
-1
.... . ...
'.
....'

-44!c3-lzIc:

I I I I I I I I
-6 -6
-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 0.: 5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3

x (t=O.O) x (t==1.3)

6 I 1 I I

4 - 4-

1 - 1 -

-1 - -1 -

-4 - -4 -

-6 I I I I -6 -

-0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 0.1 0.3 0.5

x (t=2.6) x (t=3.9)

FIG. 16. Nonlinear computation for the steady state We=O.5731 (n=O.O578), with the third smallest frequency when 8=0.076, and the linear period is
T-3.672. It has the same energy as that of the second smallest frequency (Fig. 13).

sive calculations are necessary to determine if this is the case

8.85
for all values of Weber numbers. I I I I

We now include gravity, while still neglecting viscosity,

to see how bubble breakup is affected by gravity. Physically,
this may be relevant in a transient situation when a bubble is
yet to pick up sufficient speed for viscous drag to be impor-
tant. To see the role of gravity in the breakup phenomenon
for the initial value problem, we put nondimensionalized
gravity G=O.Ol in the nonlinear computation, where all ini-
tial conditions are the same as those corresponding to Fig.
10. We find that the time for bubble breakup is delayed, as
seen in Fig. 17. If larger G is chosen, for example, G=O.l,
0.2, we find no bubble breakup for the initial condition, cor-
responding to that in Fig. 10. It seems that, in general, grav-
ity inhibits the breakup of a bubble.
Another interesting aspect of a bubble is its destabiliza-
tion due to nonlinear effects. In the weakly nonlinear limit
with quadratic nonlinearity, this can happen due to reso-
nance, i.e., the computed nonzero linear stability eigenvalues 0.B a.* 6.B 9.1 12.8 15.8

satisfy the relation (+k= ai+ mi for some i, j,k. For the nu- Time
merically computed eigenvalues, we find that for We
=0.660 776 (R=0.036 093), there are two eigenvalues: FIG. 17. The neck width of bubble as a function of time for the computation
~,=2.727 97i and ~~~5.455 94i, where (r,=20-,. In or- with gravity. Tbe dotted curve shows the case without the gravity while the
der to investigate its nonlinear instability, we solve the initial solid curve is the case with gravity parameter G=O.Ol.

1304 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, June 1995 Q. Nie and S. Tanveer
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1 wood ratio. Further, the possibility of nonlinear instability
-B.P5 fi
9.6
1.4 4.8 7.2
Time
FIG. 18. Centroid velocity as a function of time in the resonance study for
CI=O.O36 09 and We=O.6608, where eigenmodes corresponding to
cI=2.727 97i and uz=2uI are superposed with equal amplitude l =0.1 on
the steady state.
value problem numerically with initial conditions (42) and
(43) with i=i,+i2 and !-?=J?~+v?~, where (ir,$r),
(iz , G2 j are the corresponding eigenfunctions for ot and U~,
respectively, and are normalized, such that the largest com-
ponents pi of ir and iZ in (33) are each unity. After several
relatively long runs for a sequence of perturbation amplitude
e, we do not find any clear evidence of the instability. For
larger E, the eigenmodes other than those initially imposed
are easily excited; it becomes difficult to differentiate be-
tween a growth in amplitude of the eigenmode initially im-
posed and that for other modes. On the other hand, for small
E>a nonlinear growth, if at all, is likely to be small and not
observable during the time interval of our calculation. In Fig.
18, the centroid velocity is plotted against the time where the
amplitude E is 0.1 and the period of linear motion is
1.151 62. It is difficult to deduce whether there is nonlinear
growth or not. Thus, in this case, a weakly nonlinear study
appears to be necessary to resolve any possible nonlinear
instability.
V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have considered the stability of an in-
viscid 2-D bubble to the class of 2-D disturbances. The nu-
merical computation shows that a bubble is linearly stable in
the entire range of (1,~) of aspect ratio for which a steady
bubble exists. Nonetheless, in the process of oscillation
about a steady state, a bubble can dynamically break up. The
threshold amplitude of disturbance needed to cause a bubble
to break up is smaller, the larger the bubble aspect ratio.
Such a breakup corresponds to a topological singularity,
where different points on the bubble interface touch each
other. Also, one needs to investigate a more general criteria
on the initial condition that guarantees bubble breakup when
Reuse ofPhys. Fluids, Vol.content
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June 1995
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bubbles are initially far from pinching. The influence of the
fluid inside the bubble also needs to be explored, since this is
likely to be important during breakup, regardless of the At-
via resonance remains an open question that appears to be
amenable to a weakly nonlinear study. Finally, it would be
interesting to see if the large aspect ratio axisymmetric 3-D
bubble has similar qualitative features.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to thank Professor G. R. Baker for introducing
us to this problem. We also wish to gratefully acknowledge
many valuable discussions with Professor G. R. Baker. Spe-
cial thanks go to G. R. Baker for his encouragement and
-.I support of Q. N. This work has been supported by Contract
12.8
No. DE-FG02-92ER14270, and some of the computations
were performed at the Ohio State Supercomputer Center in
Columbus, Ohio.
APPENDIX: LINEAR STABILITY: DERIVATION OF A
THIRD-ORDER LINEAR ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL
EQUATION
The purpose of this appendix is to derive a third-order
linear ordinary differential equation from the linear stability
equations (19) and (20) in the special case n=O. The nu-
merically computed eigenvalues and eigenmodes through the
truncation procedure described in Sec. III B are found to sat-
isfy this differential equation. This provides an additional
check on the numerical result and the soundness of the trun-
cation of (21) and (22).
For fi=O, there is an exact solution for the steady-state
problem. It is found that the steady-state solutions are
1 2
5(5)=d-,
(
-y+T+fi13
1
1
, 641)
w(Q=--Wed-l I+s 3
i5 1
where We= d-19 and de1 = 271 J402. Now we for-
mulate the linear stability problem by a different approach
for symmetric disturbances; the case for an antisymmetric
case can be easily done by following the same procedure.
For the sake of simplicity of analysis, it is convenient to
introduce the following transformations in the linear stability
analysis,
d-1
:(r,t)=Z(b,t), G( l,t)= We G(l,t), t= -gg t.
W-9
So the linear stability equations (19) and (20) in terms of Z,
W, and tbecome
(-44)
Q. Nie and S. Tanveer 1305
 Re wt,- y:; zt,-
%-(1-12) P1(~)z,,,+p2(5~z,,+P,oZ5fP4(5)Z+p~(~)=O,
@ + 3 ) @ + f) W e (Al3)
(

2 7 5 ( - 3 b 4 + 1 0 t 2 + 9 )
z5
+2 .(5+ 3 ) 4 ( 5 2 + 3 ) for Il/~l, w h e r e pi(l) (j=l,...,5) a r e s o m e rationai functions
of b with a rather complicated form (see Ref. 16). H e r e p3,
+ !!I 4-j p4, a n d pi involves cr, a-], an,...,us, with PjIpt having
2 @+3)3@+ + ) ~Zs =O
w4 poles at [= O , ?(l/fli, for 2sjs5. O n e n e e d s to c o m p u t e
n o n z e r o solutions to ( A 1 3 ) that a r e analytic in lc[sl. S i n c e
for l=eiY. S i n c e (52-l-3)2(5+p32/53
is real o n jJi=l, w e c a n c = O , ~ = T (llfli a r e f o u n d to b e regular singular points of
multiply ( A 4 ) by this term to obtain the differential equation (A3), the requirement of analyticity
at those points, in particular, places restrictions o n the e i g e n -
R e ( 5 2 + 9 2Zt-lW
- * =o. value as well as o n the coefficients a-r, ao, etc. G iven the
W)
i l3 5i complexity of the coefficients Pj (see Ref. 16), w e h a v e not
Let attempted to find eigenvaluesa n d eigenvectors directly from
the constraints; nonetheless, by substituting numerically
A -*(f) c o m p u t e d symmetric eigenvaluesa n d eigenvectors obtained
2 ( & t) = ~ + 5 Zj(t)[
(A7) through the truncation p r o c e d u r e of Sec. III B , w e h a v e con-
5 j=o firmed that they actually satisfy ( A 1 3 ) to the precision of the
and calculation.

k,(P )
ti([$ ) = - L48)
5 j=O

w h e r e a-t, j, a n d bj v > O ) a r e real. W e subtract singular I. R. Grace, R. Clift, a n d M . E . W e b e r , Bubbles, D r o p s a n d Particles

(Academic, N e w York, 1977).
terms at c = O of the expressionwithin the braces in (A6), a n d T. G . W a n g , in D r o p s a n d B u b b l e s ( A m e r i c a n Institute of Physics, N e w
a d d back regular terms with the s a m e real part o n ld=l. York, 1988).
Consequently,( A 6 ) b e c o m e s T. B . B e n j a m i n , Hamiltonian theory for motions of b u b b l e s in a n infinite
liquid, J. Fluid M e c h 181, 3 4 9 (1987).
R e M S ,~ ')l= O , P . G . Saffman, O n the rise of small air b u b b l e s in water, J. Fluid Mech.
1, 2 4 9 (1956).
where D. W . M o o r e , T h e rise of a g a s b u b b l e in a viscuous liquid, J. Fluid

f(& t)=
i &
1 2
---!J+ --+l
95 35 i
-CL1
1
---y$+
i 95
2
gz5-
5
Mech. 6, 1 1 3 (1959).
6D. W . M o o r e , T h e b o u n d a r y layer o n a spherical g a s bubble, J. Fluid
Mech. 16, 1 6 1 (1962).

-- 1 (-- x2 1 D. W . M o o r e , T h e velocity of distorted g a s b u b b l e s in a liquid of small

viscosity, J. Fhrid Mech. 23, 7 4 9 (1965).
-60 953 -+--y-
1 ( -& --y M I. Miksis, J.-M. V a n d e n - B r o e c k ,a n d J. B . Keller, Axisymmetric b u b b l e
or d r o p in a uniform flow, J. Fluid Mech. 108, 8 9 (1981).
G . K . Batchelor, T h e stability of a large g a s b u b b l e rising through liq-
-;1.;1::I_ :(-:i;;. uid, J. Fluid Mech. 184, 3 9 9 (1987).
D. I. Meiron, O n the stability of g a s b u b b l e s rising in a n inviscid fluid,
J. Fluid Mech. 198, 1 0 1 (1989).
iA rP. N. Shankar, G n the s h a p e of a two-dimensional b u b b l e in uniform
motion, J. Fluid Mech. 244, 1 8 7 (1992).
Notice that f is analytic for last. S o from (AY), f, at best, E . B . M c L e o d , Jr., T h e explicit solution of a free b o u n d a r y p r o b l e m
c a n b e a n imaginary constant. However, since f(0, t) is real, involving surface tension, J. Rat. Mech. Anal. 4, 5 5 7 (1955).
w e obtain 1 3 S .Tanveer, S o m e analytic properties of a 2 - D steadily translating invis-
cid bubble, submitted to Proc. R. Sot. L o n d o n Ser. A .
f(!c,t) = o . (All) 1 4 S T a n v e e r a n d P . G . Saffman, S tability of b u b b l e s in a H e l e - S h a w cell,
Phys. Fluids 30, 2 6 2 4 (1987).
Following the s a m e p r o c e d u r e o n iA.5), w e c a n obtain a S . Tanveer, Singularities in the classical Rayleigh-Taylor flow: F o r m a -
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1306 Phys. Fluids, Vol. 7, No. 6, J u n e 1 9 9 5 Q . Nie a n d S . T a n v e e r

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