Bubble Breakup in Two-Dimensional Stokes Flow

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Abstract
A new class of exact solutions is reported for an evolving bubble in a two-dimensional slow viscous flow. It is observed that for an expanding bubble the interface grows smoother with time, whereas the contracting-bubble solutions display a tendency to form sharp corners ("near cusps") for small values of surface tension. In the latter case, we also obtain analytic solutions that describe bubble breakup: For a large class of initial shapes, the interface will eventually develop a thin "neck" whose width goes to zero before the bubble is completely removed from the liquid.