A surprising bubble catastrophe
The author considers a tube with several orifices out of which fluid of a given volume protrudes. In gravity free conditions the equilibrium configuration will be one which minimizes total surface area subject to the volume constraint. The surface of each liquid drop will have the same constant mean curvature. The orifices are circles with radii \(r_i\) where each exposed drop is a spherical cap. The author investigates this problem from the viewpoint of catastrophe theory. For a tube with two circular openings the interesting situation occurs when the configuration supports a double hemisphere \((h, h)\) equilibrium. This gives a cusp catastrophe with radii \(r_1\) and \(r_2\) as universal unfolding parameters. For the case of three openings with a triple hemisphere equilibrium \((h,h,h)\), an elliptic umbilic with the radii \(r_i\) \((i=1,2, 3)\) as unfolding parameters is obtained. Surprising phenomena occur along the cusp lines emanating from the elliptic umbilic. Section 1 is an introduction. Section 2 contains the basic formulas needed for the analysis. In Section 3, the author gives a quick review of the key definitions and tools of catastrophe theory. In Section 4, he carries out the analysis for the two bubble experiments for the sake of completeness. In Section 5, he analyzes the three bubble configuration.
- Bifurkation von Minimalflächen und elementare Katastrophen. (Bifurcation of minimal surfaces and elementary catastrophes)
- The cusp catastrophe of Thom in the bifurcation of minimal surfaces
- Quasi-steady formation of bubbles and drops viewed as processes that break bifurcation
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3917289
- The stability of two connected drops suspended from the edges of circular holes
- Dynamics and stability of volume-scavenging drop arrays: Coarsening by capillarity
- Surface energy minimizing configurations for axisymmetric microparticles
- Volume scavenging of networked droplets
- Quasi-steady formation of bubbles and drops viewed as processes that break bifurcation
- Slow boom, sudden crash
- Stability diagrams for disconnected capillary surfaces
- Liquid-bridge mediated droplet switch: A tristable capillary system
- Bifurcations of minimal surfaces via index theory
- On the stability of Killing cylinders in hyperbolic space
This page was built for publication: A surprising bubble catastrophe
Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q1805973)
