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PreprintCC BY 4.0HAL

Surface bubbles enhance evaporation through self-sustained thermocapillary vapor ejection

  • Xue Ma
  • Ambre Bouillant
  • Axel Huerre
  • Matthieu Roché
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Abstract

Surface bubbles are generally assumed to play only a passive role in evaporation. Here we show that they enhance the evaporation of volatile liquids by spontaneously generating a self-sustained thermocapillary circulation. Particle tracking and Schlieren imaging reveal converging flows in both phases towards the bubble apex, where a vapor fountain emerges. These flows arise from evaporative cooling, which generates temperature gradients along the bubble cap and therefore, thermocapillary stresses. A positive feedback loop ensues in which the bubble creates the conditions for the establishment of thermocapillary stresses, helps sustain itself and enhances evaporation. Boundary-layer analysis predicts that the additional evaporative flux generated by a bubble depends only on its size, in quantitative agreement with experiments. Our results identify surface bubbles on volatile liquids as simple self-sustained dissipative structures that involve and affect heat, mass and momentum transport at an interface.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{ma2026surface,
  title = {{Surface bubbles enhance evaporation through self-sustained thermocapillary vapor ejection}},
  author = {Xue Ma and Ambre Bouillant and Axel Huerre and Matthieu Roché},
  howpublished = {HAL},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05752761v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - Surface bubbles enhance evaporation through self-sustained thermocapillary vapor ejection
AU  - Xue Ma
AU  - Ambre Bouillant
AU  - Axel Huerre
AU  - Matthieu Roché
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/16
PB  - HAL
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05752761v1
AB  - Surface bubbles are generally assumed to play only a passive role in evaporation. Here we show that they enhance the evaporation of volatile liquids by spontaneously generating a self-sustained thermocapillary circulation. Particle tracking and Schlieren imaging reveal converging flows in both phases towards the bubble apex, where a vapor fountain emerges. These flows arise from evaporative cooling, which generates temperature gradients along the bubble cap and therefore, thermocapillary stresses. A positive feedback loop ensues in which the bubble creates the conditions for the establishment of thermocapillary stresses, helps sustain itself and enhances evaporation. Boundary-layer analysis predicts that the additional evaporative flux generated by a bubble depends only on its size, in quantitative agreement with experiments. Our results identify surface bubbles on volatile liquids as simple self-sustained dissipative structures that involve and affect heat, mass and momentum transport at an interface.
ER  -