Exact solutions for shapes of two-dimensional bubbles in a corner flow

Nikolay M. Zubarev and Olga V. Zubareva

Citation: Physics of Fluids 19, 102110 (2007); doi: 10.1063/1.2793805

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 PHYSICS OF FLUIDS 19, 102110 2007

Exact solutions for shapes of two-dimensional bubbles in a corner flow

Nikolay M. Zubareva and Olga V. Zubarevab
Institute of Electrophysics, Ural Division, Russian Academy of Sciences, 106 Amundsen Street,
620016 Ekaterinburg, Russia
Received 30 May 2007; accepted 6 September 2007; published online 29 October 2007
A one-parameter family of exact solutions for the deformations of two-dimensional bubbles in a
corner flow of an ideal liquid is obtained. The solutions correspond to the special case where the
pressure inside the bubble equals the stagnation pressure. The parameter of the model is the corner
angle. The solution family includes classical McLeods solution which corresponds to the corner of
angle . For the particular case of a right-angled corner, the solution describes the straining flow
past a bubble. In view of the known analogy between the distributions of a planar electric field and
the velocity field for a two-dimensional potential flow, our solutions give equilibrium configurations
of the surface of a conducting liquid in an external electric field. 2007 American Institute of
Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2793805

I. INTRODUCTION Shankar11 and Tanveer.12 Vanden-Broeck and Keller13 exam-

ined the related problem concerning a straining flow past a
In this paper we consider how an irrotational flow of an
bubble. This problem is equivalent to the problem for a
inviscid incompressible fluid can affect the shape of a
bubble attached to the walls of a right-angled corner.
constant-pressure two-dimensional bubble or drop. The
Ozugurlu and Vanden-Broeck14 extended these results to
problems concerning free capillary surfaces are of classical
flow in a corner of an arbitrary angle. Blyth and
interest in fluid mechanics. In particular, much attention is
Vanden-Broeck15 obtained numerically the distortion of a
paid to finding steady solutions for which the surface shape
bubble in a corner vortex flow. The electrostatic interpreta-
is determined by the condition of the balance of pressure
tion of McLeods exact solution uncharged conducting jet in
forces and surface tension. It should be noted that this highly
a transverse electric field was recently considered by
nonlinear free boundary problem is mathematically similar to
Zubarev and Zubareva.16
the classical problem of electrostatics, namely, the problem
The principle purpose of this paper is to present a family
of finding the equilibrium shape of the free surface of a con-
of exact solutions for steady shapes of bubbles attached to
ducting liquid in an electric field.1,2
the corner of arbitrary angle that generalizes McLeods solu-
Let us describe the main results in this field focusing on
tion it can be considered as the solution for a bubble at-
exact solutions. In 1955, McLeod3 found an isolated exact
tached to a wall, i.e., to the corner of the straight angle.
solution for a two-dimensional bubble in a uniform flow
These solutions correspond to the special case of P = 0, in
field. In 1957, Crapper4 obtained a family of exact solutions
which the governing equations can be effectively solved. As
for deep water capillary waves. Following Crappers pre-
was mentioned above, a similar problem was studied numeri-
scription, Kinnersley5 derived exact solutions for capillary
cally in Ref. 14.
waves on fluid sheets of finite thickness. Crowdy6,7 revised
Kinnersleys analysis and gave the solutions for capillary
waves on a fluid annulus. Zubarev1 and, independently, II. INITIAL EQUATIONS
Crowdy8 and Wegmann and Crowdy9 found a wide class of
exact solutions for the shapes of two-dimensional bubbles We consider a two-dimensional bubble a region of a
deformed by circulation the equilibrium configurations of constant pressure in the general case deformed by the plane
charged conducting liquid jets in the electrostatic interpreta- potential flow of an incompressible liquid. The bubble is
tion. The solutions obtained in Refs. 1 and 59 can be con- attached at the apex of a corner, so the flow is bounded by
sidered as different extensions of Crappers exact solutions.4 the corner walls and by the free surface of the bubble. Let us
Up to now, the classical McLeods solution3 does not write down the equations that describe the stationary shape
have exact generalizations. Nevertheless, an essential of the bubble surface with regard to the capillary forces.
progress was achieved by different approximate methods. Let x , y be the Cartesian coordinates with the origin at
McLeods solution corresponds to the special case where the the intersection of the walls. The distribution of the stream
difference of the stagnation pressure and the pressure inside function in the x , y plane is described by the two-
the bubble P is zero. For an arbitrary P, the distortion of a dimensional Laplace equation
bubble was studied numerically by Vanden-Broeck and xx + yy = 0.
Keller10 and, with the help of asymptotic expansions, by
This equation is to be solved together with the kinematic
a
Electronic mail: [email protected] condition that = 0 along the walls and along the free sur-
b
Electronic mail: [email protected] face, and with the following condition at infinity:

1070-6631/2007/1910/102110/6/$23.00 19, 102110-1 2007 American Institute of Physics

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 102110-2 N. M. Zubarev and O. V. Zubareva Phys. Fluids 19, 102110 2007

Ar sin, r x2 + y 2 ,
which corresponds to a corner flow. Here / 1 / 2,
1

w = +
1

, 3

is the corner angle, and arctany / x is the polar angle. where is some positive real constant its value will be
The walls of the corner correspond to the conditions = 0 determined later.
and = . The parameter A 0 characterizes the flow veloc- Thus, we should find an analytic function z = z satis-
ity. For the trivial case of liquid at rest A = 0 and is arbi- fying the conditions
trary, the equilibrium configuration of the bubble is a cylin-
der with a circular cross section. 22 1 22 Rezz + z2
The equilibrium shape of the free surface is determined = + p = 0, = 1,
2 z2 z3
by the Bernoulli equation,
4

2 =0 = T + P, 2
2 arg z = arg 0, arg = 0, 5
which describes the balance of the outside hydrodynamic
pressure and the surface tension. Here is the density of the arg z = arg , arg = , 6
liquid, T is the surface tension coefficient, is the curvature
of the free surface, and the constant P is the difference of the z , . 7
stagnation pressure and the pressure inside the bubble, P
= Ps Pb. For a surface given by the parametric expressions In view of Eqs. 57, the solution can be represented as
y = Y, x = X, the expansion

with the parameter increasing in the anticlockwise direc-

tion, the curvature is determined by the formula

z = 1 +
a1

a2
2 + 4 +


XY Y X with real coefficients. This expression describes the surface
= .
X2 + Y 23/2 with mirror symmetry with respect to the plane = / 2.
As is evident from Ref. 11, the substitution of a series
For convenience, we convert the dimensional variables
like this into Eq. 4 gives rather cumbersome expressions
to dimensionless ones,
which are inconvenient to use. First of all, this is due to the
r T
A2
1/21
r,
T
A
1/21
.
presence of the fractional power function z3 = zz3/2 in
the denominator in the rhs of Eq. 4. This problem can be
resolved by introducing a new function,
Let us introduce the complex velocity potential w = + i,
which is an analytic function of the complex variable z = x
+ iy. The velocity potential is the conjugate harmonic func- g iz = i 1 + b1

b2
2 + 4 + , 8
tion for the stream function . As is obvious from Eq. 1,
the potential w satisfies the following condition at infinity:
b1 = 1/2a1, b2 = 2 1/2a2 b21/2, ... .
w z , z .
With this function, the boundary condition 4 can be rewrit-
The Bernoulli condition on the bubble boundary 2 can be ten as
rewritten as

1 dw
2 dz
2
= + p,
2 2
2
1 22 = 2 Reg
g + pgg
2 . 9

where It should be noted that a similar equation was derived by

Tanveer for the particular case where = 1 two-dimensional
p= T22
A2
1/21
P. bubbles in a uniform flow.12
It is reasonable to parametrize the circle = 1, which
corresponds to the free surface in the mapped plane, in the
As the next step, we map the region outside the bubble
following way: = ei, where arg is a real parameter.
onto the region exterior to the unit circle in the complex
Then the shape of the free surface is given by the expression
-plane by some transformation z = z. We require that this
transformation maps the walls on the straight lines arg = 0 z = zei Z X + iY,
and arg = , i.e., the walls stay on the same places. Thereby
the problem of finding the complex potential with the con- where 0 / . It is also convenient to introduce the
straint Im w = 0 on an unknown free surface and on the walls complex function G gei to specify the values of the
reduces to the problem with an analogous condition on the analytic function g on the boundary = 1. This function is
unit circle = 1 and on the lines arg = 0 , . Its solution is related to the function Z by a simple transform, G
given by = dZ / d. Using this function, we can rewrite Eq. 9 as
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 102110-3 Exact solutions for shapes Phys. Fluids 19, 102110 2007

2 2
2
2 e2i e2i = iGG
G

G + pGG

2 . 10 b = 1, = 21 2
2
1/21
,

This equation containing the fourth-order nonlinear term will which turns out to be physically meaningless.
be the subject of our subsequent consideration. It is now possible to find the steady-state shape of the
free surface of a bubble with the help of the relation dZ / d
= G2 and the expressions 14 and 16. Integration with re-
III. EXACT SOLUTIONS
spect to gives us
We have shown that the problem of finding the steady- 2ei21 ei41
state shape of a bubble surface reduces to an analysis of Eq. Z = ei . 17
2 14 1 4 13
10. In view of the definition 8, the solution of Eq. 10
can be represented as an infinite series, Separating the real part from the imaginary one in the equa-
tion z = Z, we get the following parametric expressions for
G = e i/4+i/2
1 + b1e 2i
+ b 2e 4i
+ . 11
an equilibrium surface:
As noted above, the only known nontrivial solution for 2 cos2 1 cos4 1
the problem under consideration was found by McLeod, who x = X = cos ,
considered the shape of a bubble in a uniform flow.3 It cor- 2 14 1 4 13
responds to = 1 and p = 0. It can be easily verified that, in
2 sin2 1 sin4 1
our notation, the solution is given by the following expres- y = Y = sin + + ,
sion: 2 14 1 4 13

G = 2/3ei/4+i/21 + 31 e2i , 12 where varies in the range 0 / . This solution con-

tains the parameter . In the particular case of = 1, it coin-
that is the series 11 is finite. cides with McLeods solution.
Let us find another exact solutions to the problem corre-
sponding to the same condition p = 0. With zero value of the
pressure difference, Eq. 10 is considerably simplified; the IV. SOLUTION ANALYSIS
highest-order nonlinear term disappears,
In the previous section, we have found the solutions for
2 2 the shapes of two-dimensional bubbles in a corner flow. The
2 e2i e2i = iGG
G

G .
13
2 solutions correspond to the particular case where the pressure
difference P equals zero and the contact angle between walls
Restricting the number of terms in the series 11, we shall and the free surface equals / 2. They are characterized by
seek an approximate solution of Eq. 13 for arbitrary in the zero curvature of the surface at the stagnation points.
the following form: Actually, the flow velocity is zero at these points and, as seen
G = ei/4+i/21 + be2i, 14 from the Bernoulli Eq. 2, we have = 0 with the proviso
that P = 0. Note that the solutions for an arbitrary pressure
where b is real constant. This expression coincides with Eq. difference were found numerically in Ref. 14. According to
12 for this paper, the shape of the bubbles depends on some param-
b = 1/3, = 2/3, = 1. eter . This parameter is proportional to the pressure differ-
ence, so that the exact solution 17 corresponds to the case
Substituting Eq. 14 into Eq. 13, we obtain = 0 in terms of Ref. 14.
212 212 cos2 1 + b24 1 + 2b2 It is easy to verify that the solution exists only for a
sufficiently large value of the parameter . Its minimum
1cos2. 15 value c corresponds to a surface with self-intersection at
Equating the coefficients of identical harmonics in this ex- the origin. For c, the solution of the problem becomes
pression, we find equations that relate the problem param- physically meaningless. The threshold value of can be
eters , , and b, found from the condition Z0 = 0. Its imaginary part yields
the identity, whereas its real part, X0 = 0, leads to the equa-
212 1 + b24 1 = 0,
tion
212 + 2b2 1 = 0. 82162 20 + 5
= 0.
As a consequence, the parameters and b can be expressed 2 14 13
in terms of , The only root of this equation that satisfies the condition

b=
1
4 1
, = 22 1
24 1
1/21
. 16
1 / 2 i.e., 2 is
c = 5 + 5/8 0.905.
These relations, together with Eq. 14, give the desired ex- It corresponds to the greatest possible value of the corner
act solution of the problem. It should be noted that the equa- angle c which is equal to / c 199. Thus the exact
tions admit another solution, solution 17 generalizes McLeods one = to the case
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 102110-4 N. M. Zubarev and O. V. Zubareva Phys. Fluids 19, 102110 2007

FIG. 1. Free surface profile for = 60 = 3. Also plotted are streamlines FIG. 2. Free surface profile for = 90 = 2. The coordinates x and y
= 0.3, 0.6, 0.9. correspond to the notations of Ref. 14.

of the arbitrary corner angle lying in the range 0 c.

Let us now consider the distribution of the velocity field
s= + 2 + 42 sin2
2 sin
1/
, 24

around the bubble. Equation 17 corresponds to the follow-

into Eqs. 20 and 21. Then the streamlines are described
ing expression for the function z:
by parametric expressions with the parameter varying in
212 14 the interval 0 / . The walls of the corner = 0 and
z = . 18 = and the free surface correspond to the streamline
2 14 1 4 13
= 0 see Figs. 15.
This expression, together with the solution 3 for the com- The family of the surfaces = const can be constructed
plex velocity potential w, gives the distribution of the similarly with the use of expressions 2022.
stream function and its conjugate function the complex If is an integer, i.e., = 1 , 2 , 3 , . . ., the expression 17
variable plays the role of a parameter. Let us represent the determines the closed surfaces varies in the range 0
variable as = sei, where s is a real variable which is equal 2. Thus, we have got the solutions describing potential
to unity on the bubble surface by definition, = 1 on the flows with different symmetries past a two-dimensional
surface. Then Eqs. 18 and 3 become bubble. The case = 1 corresponds to the uniform flow,3 the
case = 2 corresponds to the straining flow,13 and so on see
2s12ei12 s14ei14
z = sei , Fig. 6.
2 14 1 4 13 Finally, let us compare our solutions with those obtained
19 by Ozugurlu and Vanden-Broeck14 one of the important uses
w = sei + sei , of exact solutions is to check numerical codes. It is clear
that the bubble profile in Fig. 2 should agree with the curve
or, in real form,
b in Fig. 4 of Ref. 14. Our dimensionless coordinates x , y
2s12 cos2 1 and the coordinates x , y used in 14 are related by the
x = s cos following expression:
2 14 1
s14 cos4 1 x,y = 42x,y .
, 20
4 13 For the case = 2, we have

2s12 sin2 1
y = s sin +
2 14 1
s14 sin4 1
+ , 21
4 13

= s + scos , 22

= s ssin . 23
In order to construct the streamlines = const, we should
express s in terms of and with the help of 23 and
substitute the resulting relation, FIG. 3. Free surface profile for = 120 = 3 / 2.
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 102110-5 Exact solutions for shapes Phys. Fluids 19, 102110 2007

FIG. 4. Free surface profile for = 180 = 1, corresponding to McLeods

solution.

x,y = 43/144/3x,y 0.513x,y .

One can see that, after rescaling, the shapes of bubbles in
Fig. 2 of the present paper and Fig. 4b of Ref. 14 coincide.

V. CONCLUSION
We have obtained a one-parameter family of exact solu- FIG. 6. Bubble profiles for = 1 , 2 , 3 , 4.
tions for the deformations of two-dimensional bubbles in a
corner flow. It extends McLeods exact solution it corre-
sponds to the straight angle to the case of arbitrary corner
angle in the range 0 c. For 0 , a bubble is /4, ,
trapped at the stagnation point of a corner flow. For
where is the electric-field potential in the cgs electrostatic
c, a bubble is attached at the apex of the wedge. In the
system of units. Rewritten in terms of these variables, the
absence of a bubble, the velocity is infinite at the apex. The
stationary Bernoulli Eq. 2 becomes the LaplaceYoung
presence of a bubble eliminates the singularity; the velocity
stress condition, that is, the balance condition for the elec-
is finite along the streamline = 0 see also Ref. 14.
trostatic and capillary forces acting on the surface, in which
If is an integer = 1 , 2 , 3, it is possible to compose
the constant P describes the difference of pressures outside
the closed surfaces see Fig. 6 from 2 segments of angle
and inside the conducting liquid. So, the expression 17
Figs. 1, 2, and 4. These surfaces correspond to bubbles
gives the solution for the electrostatic problem also.
distorted by flows with different symmetries.
It should be noted that the problem concerning the
bubble shape is similar from the mathematical point of view ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
to the classical problem of electrostatics, namely, the prob-
lem of finding the equilibrium configurations of the surface This study was performed within the framework of the
of a conducting liquid in an external electric field this anal- program Mathematical Methods in Nonlinear Dynamics of
ogy is valid only in the two-dimensional case. Actually, the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the
comparing Eq. 2 with the equations that describe the shape Interdisciplinary program for support of the projects from
of a conducting liquid surface see, e.g., Refs. 1, 2, and 16, UD RAS and SD RAS. It was financially supported by the
we see that they can be transformed one into another by the Foundation for Support of Russian Science, by the Russian
substitutions Foundation for Basic Research Project No. 07-02-96035,
and by the President of Russian Federation Project No. MD-
2553.2007.2.
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