Driven and freely decaying nonlinear shape oscillations of drops and bubbles immersed in a liquid: experimental results

Abstract

Large-amplitude oscillations of drops and bubbles immersed in an immiscible liquid host have been investigated using ultrasonic radiation pressure techniques. Single levitated or trapped drops and bubbles with effective radius between 0.2 and 0.8 cm have been driven into resonant shape oscillations of the first few orders. The direct coupling of driven drop shape oscillations between the axisymmetric l=6 and l=3 modes has been documented as well as the interaction between axisymmetric and non-axisymmetric l=3 and l=2 modes. Effective resonant energy transfer from higher- to lower-order modes has been observed together with a much less efficient energy transfer in the reverse direction. The first three resonant modes for bubbles trapped in water have also been excited, and mode coupling during driven and free-decaying oscillations has been measured. The evidence gathered thus far indicates that efficient drop resonant coupling between a higher- and a lower-order mode occurs when the characteristic frequency of the latter mode roughly coincides with a harmonic resonance.