Pinch-off of a regular bubble during the impact of droplets on a liquid pool

Abstract

A droplet impacting a liquid pool can result in the pinch-off of a regular bubble. In this study, the cavity deformation and regular bubble pinch-off after droplets impacting a liquid pool were experimentally investigated. The results indicate that the phenomenon of regular bubble pinch-off results from the combined effects of cavity expansion and capillary wave propagation. The inertial force, viscous force, and droplet diameter are all crucial to the cavity evolution and the process of regular bubble pinch-off. The cavity depth increases with the droplet's inertial force but does not change with the droplet's viscous force. As the droplet's inertial force increases, the diameter of the regular bubble first increases and then decreases. The diameter of the regular bubble at We = 165 is almost four times that at We = 193. In addition, the peak size of the regular bubble decreases as the liquid viscosity increases, but increases as the droplet diameter increases. These variations in the regular bubble size are explained using a theoretical analysis. Finally, the effects of the inertial and viscous forces on the thresholds between no-bubble and regular-bubble pinch-off regimes are studied. As the Ohnesorge number increases from 1.37 × 10−2 to 2.03 × 10−2, the upper and lower critical Weber numbers for the occurrence of the regular bubble pinch-off can increase by 30 and 25, respectively. The theoretical boundaries of regular bubble pinch-off agree well with the boundaries observed in the experiments.