We use computational methods to determine the minimal yield-stress required in order to hold static a buoyant bubble in a yield-stress liquid. The static limit is governed by the bubble shape, the dimensionless surface tension ($γ$) and the ratio of the yield-stress to the buoyancy stress ($Y$). For a given geometry, bubbles are static for $Y > Y_c$, which we determine for a range of shapes. Given that surface tension is negligible, long prolate bubbles require larger yield-stress to hold static compared to oblate bubbles. Non-zero $γ$ increases $Y_c$ and for large $γ$ the yield-capillary number ($Y/γ$) determines the static boundary. In this limit, although bubble shape is important, bubble orientation is not. 2D planar and axisymmetric bubbles are studied.
Yield-stress fluids naturally trap small bubbles when their buoyancy applies an insufficient stress to induce local yielding of the material. Under acoustic excitation, trapped bubbles can be driven into volumetric oscillations and apply an additional local strain and stress that can trigger yielding and assist their release. In this paper we explore different regimes of microbubble oscillation and translation driven by an ultrasound field in a model yield-stress fluid, a Carbopol microgel. We first analyse the linear bubble oscillation dynamics to measure the local, high-frequency viscosity o…
Viscoplastic fluids can hold bubbles/particles stationary by balancing the buoyancy stress with the yield stress. In the present study, we investigate a suspension of bubbles in a yield-stress fluid. More precisely, we compute how much the gas fraction $ϕ$ that could be held trapped in a yield-stress fluid without motion. The key parameter is the yield number which represents the ratio of the yield stress to the buoyancy stress. Here the goal is to shed light on how the bubbles feel their neighbours through the stress field and to compute the critical yield number for a bubble cloud beyond whi…
The role of surface tension gradients in the apparent viscosity of liquid foams remains largely unexplained. In this article, we develop a toy-model based on a periodic array of 2D hexagonal bubbles, each bubble being separated from its neighbors by a liquid film of uniform thickness. The two interfaces of this thin liquid film are allowed to slide relatively to each other, thus shearing the liquid phase in between. We solve the dynamics under external shear of this minimal system and we show that the continuity of the surface tension around the whole bubble is the relevant condition to determ…
Dynamics of a bubble impacting and sliding a tilted surface has been investigated through experimental and computational methods. \textcolor{blue}{Specifically, shear stress generated on the wall has been calculated and compared with bacterium adhesion force in order to evaluate a potential sanitization function. In experiments, the bubble-wall interaction has been characterized for several different wall angles. We numerically solved a force balance including buoyancy, hydrodynamic inertia \& drag, lift and thin film force to determine the bubble motion. Results showed that the shear stress i…
We demonstrate that the active thermocapillary stresses induced by multiple microbubbles offer simple routes to directed self-assembly and complex but controllable micromanipulation of mesoscopic colloidal particles embedded in a liquid. The microbubbles are nucleated on a liquid-glass interface using optical tweezers. The flow around a single bubble causes self-assembly of the particles in rings at the bubble-base, while an asymmetric temperature profile generated across the bubble interface breaks the azimuthal symmetry of the flow, and induces simultaneous accumulation and repulsion of part…
Inertial cavitation in soft matter is an important phenomenon featured in a wide array of biological and engineering processes. Recent advances in experimental, theoretical, and numerical techniques have provided access into a world full of nonlinear physics, yet most of our quantitative understanding to date has been centered on a spherically symmetric description of the cavitation process. However, cavitation bubble growth and collapse rarely occur in a perfectly symmetrical fashion, particularly in soft materials. Predicting the onset of dynamically arising, non-spherical instabilities has …
We report the first precision measurement of the superheat temperature required for bubble nucleation in liquid xenon of $ΔT_{wall,ONB}$ = (16.9$\pm$0.5) K and $ΔT_{wall,ONB}$ = (19.2$^{+0.4}_{-1.1}$) K at pressures of P = $(0.98\pm0.02)$ bar and P = $(1.32^{+0.05}_{-0.01})$ bar, respectively. Both are measured at a subcooled bulk fluid temperature of $\sim$ 162 K. A dedicated liquid xenon setup is used to measure the temperature at which bubble nucleation first appears on the flat surface of a resistor. The associated average heat flux at the surface of the resistor is determined using fluid …
We perform a detailed theoretical study of the edge fracture instability, which commonly destabilises the fluid-air interface during strong shear flows of entangled polymeric fluids, leading to unreliable rheological measurements. By means of direct nonlinear simulations, we map out phase diagrams showing the degree of edge fracture in the plane of the surface tension of the fluid-air interface and the imposed shear rate, within the Giesekus and Johnson-Segalman models, for different values of the nonlinear constitutive parameters that determine the dependencies on shear rate of the shear and …
The elastoviscoplastic yield-stress fluid flows in a horizontal straight tube and a bended tube have been investigated using hydrogen bubble visualization method. The experimental results are used to verify the empirical Herschel-Bulkley model. Both experimental and theoretical investigations well predict the yield-stress fluid flow behaviors. It is found that the significant factors influencing on the predictions of the Herschel-Bulkley model are the yield stress, viscosity and viscoelasticity. For the yield-stress flows in the bended tube, a more delicate constitutive model with consideratio…
Interface-resolved direct numerical simulations are performed to examine the combined effects of soluble surfactant and viscoelasticity on the structure of a bubbly turbulent channel flow. The incompressible flow equations are solved fully coupled with the FENE-P viscoelastic model and the equations governing interfacial and bulk surfactant concentrations. The latter coupling is achieved through a non-linear equation of state which relates the surface tension to the surfactant concentration at the interface. The two-fluid Navier-Stokes equations are solved using a front-tracking method, augmen…
The flow through a capillary tube with non-constant radius and where bubbles of yield stress fluid are injected is strongly non-linear. In particular below a finite yield pressure drop, $P_y$, flow is absent, while a singular behaviour is expected above it. In this paper we compute the yield pressure drop statistics and the mean flow rate in two cases: (i) when a single bubble is injected, (ii) when many bubbles are randomly injected in the fluid.
The effect of surfactants on the tail and film dynamics of elongated gas bubbles propagating through circular capillary tubes is investigated by means of an extensive three-dimensional numerical study using a hybrid front-tracking/level-set method. The focus is on the visco-inertial regime, which occurs when the Reynolds number of the flow is much larger than unity. Under these conditions, `clean' bubbles exhibit interface undulations in the proximity of the tail \cite{Magnini_prf_2017}, with an amplitude that increases with the Reynolds number. We perform a systematic analysis of the impact o…
