Linear stability and sensitivity of the flow past a fixed oblate spheroidal bubble

The stability properties of the wake past an oblate spheroidal bubble held fixed in a uniform stream are studied in the framework of a global linear analysis. In line with previous studies, provided the geometric aspect ratio of the bubble, chi, is large enough, the wake is found to be unstable only within a finite range of Reynolds number, Re. The neutral curves corresponding to the occurrence of the first two unstable modes are determined over a wide range of the (chi, Re) domain and the structure of the modes encountered along the two branches of each neutral curve is discussed. Then, using an adjoint-based approach, a series of sensitivity analyses of the flow past the bubble is carried out in the spirit of recent studies devoted to two-dimensional and axisymmetric rigid bodies. The regions of the flow most sensitive to an external forcing are found to be concentrated in the core or at the periphery of the standing eddy, as already observed with bluff bodies at the surface of which the flow obeys a no-slip condition. However, since the shear-free condition allows the fluid to slip along the bubble surface, the rear half of this surface turns out to be also significantly sensitive to disturbances originating in the shear stress, a finding which may be related to the well-known influence of surfactants on the structure and stability properties of the flow past bubbles rising in water. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.