Bubble break-up in a straining flow at finite Reynolds numbers

It has recently been shown that the behaviour of a gas bubble in a uniaxial straining flow can be used as a simplified model to describe some important aspects of the more complex, turbulent bubble break-up problem, provided that the Reynolds and the Weber numbers are sufficiently large. In the present investigation, we extend that work and, using a level-set numerical scheme, we analyse the influence of the bubble Reynolds number on break-up time, t(b), for supercritical Weber numbers, We > We(c), where We, is the critical Weber number. It is observed that the viscosity introduces corrections of O(1/Re) in the break-up time obtained in the limit Re -> infinity. In addition, the action of other possible mechanisms of break-up at subcritical Weber numbers, We < We(c), is also explored.