Scaling law for bubbles rising near vertical walls

Abstract

This paper examines the rising motion of a layer of gas bubbles next to a vertical wall in a liquid in the presence of an upward flow parallel to the wall to help with the understanding of the fluid dynamics in a bubbly upflow in vertical channels. Only the region near the wall is simulated with an average pressure gradient applied to the domain that balances the weight of the liquid phase. The upward flow is created by the rising motion of the bubbles. The bubbles are kept near the wall by the lateral lift force acting on them as a result of rising in the shear layer near the wall. The rise velocity of the bubbles sliding on the wall and the average rise velocity of the liquid depend on three dimensionless parameters, Archimedes number, Ar, Eötvös number, Eo, and the average volume fraction of bubbles on the wall. In the limit of small Eo, bubbles are nearly spherical and the dependency on Eo becomes negligible. In this limit, the scaling of the liquid Reynolds number with Archimedes number and the void fraction is presented. A scaling argument is presented based on viscous dissipation analysis that matches the numerical findings. Viscous dissipation rates are found to be high in a thin film region between the bubble and the wall. A scaling of the viscous dissipation and steady state film thickness between the bubble and the wall with Archimedes number is presented.