Bubble formation from wall orifice in liquid cross-flow under low gravity

Abstract

Two-phase flows present a wide variety of applications for spacecraft thermal control systems design. Bubble formation and detachment is an integral part of the two-phase flow science. The objective of the present work is to experimentally investigate the effects of liquid cross-flow velocity, gas flow rate, and orifice diameter on bubble formation in a wall–bubble injection configuration. Data were taken mainly under reduced gravity conditions but some data were taken in normal gravity for comparison. The reduced gravity experiment was conducted aboard the NASA DC-9 Reduced Gravity Aircraft. The results show that the process of bubble formation and detachment depends on gravity, the orifice diameter, the gas flow rate, and the liquid cross-flow velocity. The data are analyzed based on a force balance, and two different detachment mechanisms are identified. When the gas momentum is large, the bubble detaches from the injection orifice as the gas momentum overcomes the attaching effects of liquid drag and inertia. The surface tension force is much reduced because a large part of the bubble pinning edge at the orifice is lost as the bubble axis is tilted by the liquid flow. When the gas momentum is small, the force balance in the liquid flow direction is important, and the bubble detaches when the bubble axis inclination exceeds a certain angle.