The unpredictable nature of bubble evolution

Lawless, Jack, Keeler, Jack ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-7970, Gaillard, Antoine, Hazel, Andrew and Juel, Anne (2022) The unpredictable nature of bubble evolution. Scientific Reports, 12. ISSN 2045-2322

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Abstract

Unpredictable dynamics arising from a sensitivity to initial conditions is commonly associated with chaos. We demonstrate how similar unpredictability manifests in a nonlinear system that possesses a large number of long-term outcomes, namely the propagation of an air bubble within a viscous fluid-filled channel. The system under investigation supports various stable states of single-bubble propagation. In addition, bubbles can readily break up during their propagation. Upon subjecting steadily-propagating bubbles to finite-amplitude perturbations in the form of localised channel constrictions, we identify localised regions of the driving flow rate for which the resulting evolutions are unpredictable. Visibly-indistinguishable bubbles are observed to evolve towards a multitude of long-term outcomes, including each of the stable states available to the initial bubble and various states of permanently-changed bubble topology. By combining high-precision experimental results with simulations of a depth-averaged lubrication model of the system, we determine that this behaviour is driven by a sensitive dependence on initial conditions within the vicinity of an unstable periodic orbit.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: Funding Information: The authors acknowledge funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through grant no. EP/P026044/1.
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Mathematics (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Fluids & Structures
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Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2022 04:06
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2024 12:45
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/90146
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-23231-8

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