Computational and Experimental Characterization of Single Bubble Dynamics in Isothermal Liquid Pools

Abstract

The process of bubble growth is of great influence on the bubble volume and bubble rise velocity. The overall behavior of bubbles at fluid interfaces depends strongly on bubble growth and the closely linked process of bubble detachment. In the present study, the dynamics of a single gas bubble emanating from an orifice submerged in isothermal liquid pools is investigated computationally and experimentally. The parametric effects of liquid properties, capillary diameters and air flow rates on the bubble shape, equivalent diameter, and growth times on the dynamic behavior (incipience, growth and necking) of air bubbles, in fluids of varying surface tension and viscosity, as it grows from a tip of a sub-millimeter-scale capillary orifice have been studied. Computational solutions have been obtained by solving the complete set of governing equations using Volume of Fluid (VOF) interface tracking method. The CFD model has been verified experimentally using optical high speed micro-scale flow visualization techniques. The results were analyzed in a theoretical stand point considering the various forces acting on the bubble such as forces due to buoyancy, viscosity, surface tension, liquid inertia, and gas momentum transport, and the consequent motion of the gas-liquid interface. The results obtained ascertain the role of liquid-gas interfacial forces as well as the fluid properties on the bubble growth dynamics.