Surface breakup and air bubble formation by drop impact in the irregular entrainment region

Abstract

Drop impact on a water surface can be followed by underwater sounds originating not at the drop impact but when the entrained bubbles oscillate. Although the sound mechanism in the regular bubble entrainment region is well-known, there is less knowledge on the impact phenomena in the irregular bubble entrainment region where various situations can exist, such as many types of bubble formation or even no bubble generation under some conditions. In the present study, the aim is to clarify the dynamics of the water surface after the impact of a primary drop, mainly with diameter 5.2, 5.7 and 6.2mm, each of which is accompanied by a single satellite drop. Special attention was paid to the breakup behaviour of the water surface for Froude number Fr < 300. It was found that three underwater sounds were generated for a single drop impact, besides the sound due to impact itself. The first two were audible to the human ear, but the third one was almost inaudible. The first underwater sound resulted from the oscillation of a single air bubble formed as a result of the satellite drop impact on the bottom of the contracting cavity, and the second sound was due to the oscillation of air bubbles generated during the collapse of the water column. The formation of these air bubbles strongly depends on the Froude number, Weber number (or Bond number) and the aspect ratio of the drop at impact, although involving probability characteristics. Furthermore it is suggested that an air bubble entrapped in a water column plays an important role in increasing the probability of contact between the column surface and the curved free surface. A Japanese Suikinkutsu was introduced as an application of drop-impact-induced sounds. Using an open-type Suikinkutsu an additional experiment was carried out with larger drops with average diameters of 6.2, 7.2 and 7.8, mm.