Spray production by air bubbles bursting on a water surface

Abstract

The size and two components of the ejection velocity of the jet droplets generated by bursting bubbles on a water surface have been measured by a phase Doppler particle analyzer. The experiments are for bubbles of diameters in the range 200-1000 μm, which produced drops in the range of 10-150 μm. A careful analysis of raw data allowed the top and second jet drop velocities at the ejection position to be derived. These data agree well with previous measurements and show very good consistency for data taken at distances of 3, 18.5, and 30 mm from the water surface. The analysis of data for the horizontal component of the ejection velocity shows that the mean value of the ejection angle (inclination with respect to the vertical) for droplets in the most populated size band (50-60 μm) is ∼8°-9° and increases with droplet size. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union.