Interaction of Bubbles with Vortex Ring Launched into Bubble Plume

Abstract

This study is concerned with an experimental exploration for the interactions of bubbles with a vortex ring launched vertically upward into a bubble plume. A vortex ring launcher, composed of a cylinder and a piston, is mounted at the bottom of a water tank. Small hydrogen bubbles are released into still water from a cathode, which is wound around the cylinder outlet, by the electrolysis of water. The bubbles rise by the buoyant force and induce a bubble plume. The water in the cylinder is discharged into the bubble plume by the piston, resulting in a laminar vortex ring convecting along the central axis of the plume. Just after the launch of the vortex ring, the bubbles are spirally entrained into the vortex ring with the roll up of the shear layer. The void fraction within the vortex ring increases with the convection of the vortex ring until a certain displacement of the vortex ring, where the reduction occurs. The vortex ring convects with a constant velocity higher than that in still water. The entrained bubbles reduce the strength of the vortex ring.