NONLINEAR EFFECTS IN THE DYNAMICS OF SHAPE AND VOLUME OSCILLATIONS FOR A GAS BUBBLE IN AN EXTERNAL FLOW

Abstract

This paper considers the dynamics of a gas bubble in response to either a pressure pulse or a pressure step at t = 0, both in the presence and absence of a mean flow. Our work utilizes small-deformation, domain perturbation analysis carried to second and higher order in the amplitude of deformation, epsilon. In the absence of a mean flow, our analysis of the small deformation problem for an initial impulsive perturbation of the bubble volume and shape is closely related to recently published work by Longuet-Higgins on the time-dependent oscillations of an initially deformed bubble in a quiescent fluid. However, in the presence of a mean flow which deforms the bubble, the bubble response to pressure changes is more complex. Specifically, the present analysis identifies a number of different mechanisms for resonant interaction between shape deformation modes and the volume or radial breathing mode of oscillation. This includes not only a fundamental change in the resonant interactions at O(epsilon2)- where resonant interaction is also found in the absence of mean flow - but resonant interactions also at the level of O(epsilon3/2) which are not present without the mean flow. On the other hand, the bubble dynamics in response to a step change in the pressure distribution in a quiescent fluid exhibits similar resonant interactions at O(epsilon2) to those obtained for a pressure pulse in the presence of mean flow because the bubble oscillates around a non-spherical steady-state shape owing to the non-uniform pressure distribution on the bubble surface in both the cases.