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Fragmentation in turbulence by small eddies

Author

Listed:
  • Yinghe Qi

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Shiyong Tan

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Noah Corbitt

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Carl Urbanik

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Ashwanth K. R. Salibindla

    (Johns Hopkins University)

  • Rui Ni

    (Johns Hopkins University)

Abstract

From air-sea gas exchange, oil pollution, to bioreactors, the ubiquitous fragmentation of bubbles/drops in turbulence has been modeled by relying on the classical Kolmogorov-Hinze paradigm since the 1950s. This framework hypothesizes that bubbles/drops are broken solely by eddies of the same size, even though turbulence is well known for its wide spectrum of scales. Here, by designing an experiment that can physically and cleanly disentangle eddies of various sizes, we report the experimental evidence to challenge this hypothesis and show that bubbles are preferentially broken by the sub-bubble-scale eddies. Our work also highlights that fragmentation cannot be quantified solely by the stress criterion or the Weber number; The competition between different time scales is equally important. Instead of being elongated slowly and persistently by flows at their own scales, bubbles are fragmented in turbulence by small eddies via a burst of intense local deformation within a short time.

Suggested Citation

  • Yinghe Qi & Shiyong Tan & Noah Corbitt & Carl Urbanik & Ashwanth K. R. Salibindla & Rui Ni, 2022. "Fragmentation in turbulence by small eddies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-28092-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28092-3
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