Oscillations of Large Bubbles Due to Sudden Finite Volume Release

The oscillatory behavior of large air bubbles produced from the instantaneous rupture of a submerged, finite volume container is characterized experimentally. Continuous gas release in the form of a unidirectional jet from underwater pipes or geophysical formations has received significant attention in the past, largely focused on the break-up of the gas stream and the size of the resulting bubbles. More recently, so-called ‘glugging’ behavior in constrained systems with very large reservoirs has also been studied, in which bi-directional mass exchange occurs between the liquid and gas phases. In contrast to both of these quasi-steady systems, the finite volume rupture problem depends significantly on the initial transient behavior of the two fluids, due to the bi-directional exchange in a relatively small, fixed, gas reservoir. The resulting gas release produces a similar bubble break-up behavior but with different time and length scales. We present time-resolved pressure and bubble geometry measurements following an instantaneous, underwater volume rupture, identify the relevant temporal scaling behavior for the resulting dynamics, and explain the behavior in terms of inertial and capillary phenomena.