Controlling bubbles

In this short overview we report on our ongoing work on the dynamics of bubbles in various flows. Three different situations are explored: the competition between acoustic and hydrodynamics forces in a vertical pipe (Rensen J, Bosman D, Magnaudet J, Ohl C D, Prosperetti A, Togel R, Versluis M and Lohse D 2001 Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 4819), a rising bubble on which shape oscillations have been induced (de Vries J, Luther S and Lohse D 2002 Eur J. Phys. B 29 503), and a bubble in a rotating horizontal cylinder. Whereas for the first two situations the standard bubble force models (Magnaudet J and Eames 1 2000 Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 32 659) are consistent with our measurements, modifications for the lift force model seem to be required in the last case.