Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System
Published on: May 9, 2021
The acoustic excitation of air bubbles fragmenting in sheared flow
1Marine Physical Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, California 92093-0238, USA.
Abstract:
An analysis of the acoustic emissions of air bubbles fragmenting in sheared fluid flow is presented. The fragmentation of bubbles into two products only is considered. While the measured pressure amplitude is highly variable, the partition of energy between fragmentation products is highly correlated. The partition of energy between products is, on average, approximately equal irrespective of the relative sizes of the bubble products. This observation suggests that the acoustic excitation mechanism is common to both bubbles immediately prior to fragmentation. A model for the excitation mechanism based on symmetric collapse of the neck of air joining fragmentation products is proposed and found to be sufficient to explain the range of observed bubble pulse amplitudes and the equal partition of energy.
Related Concept Videos
Deriving the Speed of Sound in a Liquid
The speed of sound in fluids can be derived by considering a mechanical wave propagating...
Shock Waves
When the source's speed approaches the speed of sound, constructive interference between successive wavefronts emitted by the source occurs immediately behind it. Initially, scientists believed that this constructive interference would result in such high pressures...
Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble
Sound as Pressure Waves
The pressure fluctuation depends on the difference in displacements between the successive points in the...
Sound Waves: Resonance
Standing Waves in a Cavity

