Dynamics of soluble gas bubbles

The problem of the mass, thermal and dynamic interaction between a bubble containing a soluble gas and a liquid is considered. It is shown that this problem can be reduced to the problem of the behavior of a vapor bubble with phase transitions investigated in detail in [1–3]. Expressions are obtained for the rate of decay of the radially symmetric oscillations of the bubbles due to the solubility of the gas in the liquid. The effective coefficients of mass transfer between the radially pulsating bubbles and the liquid are determined. A numerical solution is obtained for the problem of the radial motion of a bubble created by a sudden change of pressure in the liquid which, in particular, corresponds to the behavior of the bubbles behind the shock front when a shock wave enters a bubble screen.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 6, pp. 52–59, November–December, 1985.     

Ellipsoidal Oscillations of a Gas Bubble with Periodic Variation of the Surrounding Fluid Pressure

Ellipsoidal linear and nonlinear oscillations of a gas bubble under harmonic variation of the surrounding fluid pressure are studied. The system is considered under conditions in which periodic sonoluminescence of the individual bubble in a standing acoustic wave is observable. A mathematical model of the bubble dynamics is suggested; in this model, the variation of the gas/fluid interface shape is described correct to the square of the amplitude of the deformation of the spherical shape of the bubble. The character of the air bubble oscillations in water is investigated in relation to the initial bubble radius and the fluid pressure variation amplitude. It is shown that nonspherical oscillations of limited amplitude can occur outside the range of linearly stable spherical oscillations. In this case, both oscillations with a period equal to one or two periods of the fluid pressure variation and aperiodic oscillations can be observed.     

Cell model of nonisothermal gas absorption in gas-liquid bubbly media

A model for combined mass and heat transfer during nonisothermal gas absorption in a two-phase gasliquid bubbly medium with a high gas content and/or large times of gas-liquid contact is suggested. Diffusion and thermal interactions between bubbles is taken into account in the approximation of a cellular model of a bubbly medium whereby a bubbly medium is viewed as a periodic structure consisting of identical spherical cells with periodic boundary conditions at a cell boundary. Distribution of concentration of dissolved gas, temperature distribution in liquid and coefficients of mass and heat transfer during nonisothermal absorption of a soluble pure gas from a bubble by liquid are determined. In the limiting case of absorption without heat release the derived formulas recover the expressions for isothermal absorption.     

Forced oscillations of two gas bubbles in a fluid in the vicinity of bubble contact

For a theoretical derivation of bubble coalescence conditions, nonlinear forced oscillations of two closely spaced spherical bubbles subjected to the action of a periodic external pressure field are considered. The equations, asymptotic with respect to a small distance between the bubble surfaces, are derived to describe the approach of the bubbles under the action of (i) the Bjerknes attraction force averaged over the oscillation period and (ii) the viscous drag. It is shown that due to nonlinear interaction of the viscous drag with the radial and translational oscillations of the bubbles a unidirectional repulsive force is generated, which prevents the approach of the bubbles. The coalescence of the bubbles is possible when the nondimensional parameter combined from the amplitude and frequency of the external pressure field, the bubble radius, and the fluid viscosity is greater than a certain critical value. The obtained coalescence condition is qualitatively confirmed by experiments.     

Steam chugging in a boiling water reactor pressure-suppression system

Results of a transient analysis predicting the general characteristics of steam chugging compare well with the results of two large scale experiments: GKM II, test 21 and GKSS, test 16. Predicted fundamental periods of chugging are within 5 and 16 per cent of the respective experimental values. The results of the analysis include effects of air in the drywell, momentum loss and heat transfer in the condensation pipe, direct contact condensation heat transfer at the gas-water interface and momentum and heat transfer in the wetwell water pool. Bubble shape is calculated in two-dimensional cylindrical coordinates.Required inputs to the analysis include the geometry, initial conditions and constants to determine both the steam inlet mass flowrate to the drywell as a function of time and conduction heat transfer through the wall of the condensation pipe. There are no arbitrary free parameters which must be specified to predict specific experiments. Rather, the analysis is based on fundamental physical phenomena, experimental coefficients documented for general heat transfer and fluid mechanics characteristics and standard analytical techniques.The random nature of steam chugging observed in some experiments is partially explained by predicted regimes of chugging and changes in the maximum extent of a bubble below the condensation pipe exit during each regime.     

Cell model for gas absorption with first-order irreversible chemical reaction and heat release in gas-liquid bubbly media

A model for mass and heat transfer during physical gas absorption in gas-liquid bubbly medium suggested in [1] is generalized for a case of chemical absorption accompanied by heat release. Diffusion and thermal interactions between bubbles are taken in to account in the approximation of a cellular model of a bubbly medium whereby a bubbly medium is viewed as a periodic structure consisting of identical spherical cells with periodic boundary conditions at a cell boundary. Distribution of concentration of the dissolved gas, temperature distribution in liquid and rates of mass and heat transfer during nonisothermal chemical absorption of a soluble pure gas from a bubble by liquid are determined. In the limiting case of chemical absorption without heat release the derived formulas recover the expressions for isothermal chemical absorption. In the limiting case of physical absorption with heat release the derived formulas recover the expressions for nonisothermal absorption obtained in [1].     

Bubble formation in co-fed gas–liquid flows in a rotor-stator spinning disc reactor

The gas–liquid flow in a rotor-stator spinning disc reactor, with co-feeding of gas and liquid, is studied for high gas volumetric throughflow rates and high gas/liquid volumetric flow ratios. High speed imaging and spectral analysis of pressure drop signals are employed to analyse the flow. Two mechanisms of bubble formation are observed, one due to gas overpressure leading to large irregular bubbles, and one due to liquid turbulent vortices leading to small, well-defined bubbles. The two mechanisms lead to three distinct gas dispersion regimes, distinguished by their characteristic oscillations in pressure drop. At low rotational Reynolds numbers (Re_ω < 0.4 · 10⁶), in the gas spillover regime, the gas is dispersed as large bubbles only. Above this critical Re_ω, small bubbles are sheared off as well, thus forming a heterogeneous dispersion. At sufficiently high Re_ω, depending on the gas flow rate, the gas is homogeneously dispersed as small bubbles. The maximum gas flow that can be dispersed as small bubbles is linearly proportional to the local energy dissipation rate. The understanding of the bubble formation mechanisms and pressure signature allows prediction and detection of the prevailing hydrodynamic regime in scaled up spinning disc reactors and for different reaction fluids.     

Potential flow around a deforming bubble in a Venturi

The differential pressure between the entrance and throat of a Venturi will fluctuate if the liquid flowing through the Venturi contains bubbles. This paper reports computations of the pressure fluctuation due to the passage of a single bubble. The liquid is assumed inviscid and its velocity, assumed irrotational, is computed by means of a boundary integral technique. The liquid velocity at the entrance to the Venturi is assumed constant and uniform across the pipe, as is the pressure at the outlet. The bubble is initially far upstream of the Venturi and moves with velocity equal to that of the liquid. Buoyancy is neglected. If the bubble is sufficiently small that interactions with the Venturi walls may be neglected, a simple one-dimensional model for the bubble velocity is in good agreement with the full boundary integral computations. The differential pressure (taken to be positive) decreases when the bubble enters the converging section of the Venturi, and then increases to a value higher than for liquid alone as the bubble passes the pressure measurement position within the throat. The changes can be estimated using the one-dimensional model, if the bubble is small. The bubble is initially spherical (due to surface tension) but is perturbed by the low pressure within the Venturi throat. In the absence of viscosity, the bubble oscillates after leaving the Venturi. The quadrupole oscillations of the bubble are similar in frequency to those of a bubble in unbounded fluid; the frequency of the monopole oscillations is modified by the presence of the pipe walls. Numerical results for the frequency of monopole oscillations of a bubble in a uniform tube of finite length are in good agreement with analytic predictions, as is the computed drift of the oscillating bubble.     

Evolution of a Small Distortion of the Spherical Shape of a Gas Bubble under Strong Expansion-Compression

The evolution of a small distortion of the spherical shape of a gas bubble which undergoes strong radial expansion-compression upon a single oscillation of the ambient liquid pressure under a harmonic law are analyzed by numerical experiments. It is assumed that the distortions of the spherical bubble shape are axisymmetric and have the form of individual spherical surface harmonics with numbers of 2–5. Bubble-shape oscillations prior to the beginning of expansion are taken into account. Generally, the distortion value during bubble expansion-compression depends on the phase of bubble-shape oscillation at the beginning of the expansion (initial phase). Emphasis is placed on the dependence of the maximum distortions in the initial phase at certain characteristic times of bubble expansion-compression on the amplitude of the external excitation, liquid viscosity, and distortion mode (harmonic number). The parameters of the problem are typical of the stable periodic sonolumiescence of an individual air bubble in water at room temperature. An exception is the liquid pressure oscillation amplitude, which is varied up to values that are five times the static pressure. That large excitation amplitudes are beyond the stability threshold of periodic oscillations of spherical bubbles. Their consideration is of interest from the point of view of increasing the compression ratio of the bubble gas, i. e., increasing the maximum temperature and density achievable in the final compression stage.__________Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 17–28, July–August, 2005.     

Forced oscillations of a gas bubble in a spherical volume of a compressible liquid

A spherically symmetric problem of oscillations of a single gas bubble at the center of a spherical flask filled with a compressible liquid under the action of pressure oscillations on the flask wall is considered. A system of differential-difference equations is obtained that extends the Rayleigh-Plesset equation to the case of a compressible liquid and takes into account the pressure-wave reflection from the bubble and the flask wall. A linear analysis of solutions of this system of equations is performed for the case of harmonic oscillations of the bubble. Nonlinear resonance oscillations and nearly resonance nonharmonic oscillations of the bubble caused by harmonic pressure oscillations on the flask wall are analyzed. Ufa Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa 450000. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 40, No. 2, pp. 111–118, March–April, 1999.     

Effect of absorbate concentration level on dissolving translating bubble collapse governed by simultaneous heat and mass transfer

 We studied gas absorption from a rising spherical bubble when the concentration level of the absorbate in the absorbent is finite (finite dilution of absorbate approximation). It is showed that in the case of finite dilution the lateral convective term in the equation of mass transfer of the absorbate must be taken into account. It is found that the rate mass transfer and the rate of bubble collapse increases with the increase of the absorbate concentration level. Isothermal and nonisothermal absorptions are considered whereby the latter is described by coupled equations of mass and heat transfer. It is showed that the rate of mass transfer and the rate of bubble collapse decreases when the heat of absorption increases. Received on 28 May 1999     

PRESSURE FLUCTUATIONS IN GAS-SOLIDS FLUIDIZED BEDS

Pressure fluctuation data measured in a series of fluidized beds with diameters of 0.05, 0.1, 0.29, 0.60 and 1.56 m showed that the maximum amplitude or standard deviation increased with increasing the superficial gas velocity and static bed height for relatively shallow beds and became insensitive to the increase in static bed height in relatively deep beds. The amplitude appeared to be less dependent on the measurement location in the dense bed. Predictions based on bubble passage, bubble eruption at the upper bed surface and bed oscillation all failed to explain all observed trends and underestimated the amplitude of pressure fluctuations, suggesting that the global pressure fluctuations in gas-solids bubbling fluidized beds are the superposition of local pressure variations, bed oscillations and pressure waves generated from the bubble formation in the distributor region, bubble coalescence during their rise and bubble eruption at the upper bed surface.     

Oscillations of a plate cascade in a transonic gas flow

The transonic unsteady flow of a gas through a cascade of thin, slightly curved plates is quite complex and has received little study. The main difficulties are associated with the nonlinear dependence of the aerodynamic characteristics on the plate thickness. In [1] it is shown that, for a single thin plate performing high-frequency oscillations in a transonic gas stream, the variation of the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics with plate thickness may be neglected. For a plate cascade, the flow pattern is complicated by the aerodynamic interference between the plates, which may depend significantly on their shape. A solution of the problem of transonic flow past a cascade without account for the plate thickness has been obtained by Hamamoto [2].The objective of the present study is the clarification of the dependence of the aerodynamic characteristics of a plate cascade on plate thickness in transonic unsteady flow regimes. The nonlinear equation for the velocity potential is linearized under the assumption that the motionless plate causes significantly greater disturbances in the stream than those due to the oscillations. A similar linearization was carried out for a single plate in [3]. The aerodynamic interference between the plates is determined by the method presented in [4]. As an example, the aerodynamic forces acting on a plate oscillating in a duct and in a free jet are calculated.     

Stability of Filtration of a Gas—Liquid Mixture

The stability of steady regimes of filtration of a gas—liquid mixture at pressure lower than the saturation pressure is studied for the case of a nonmonotonic dependence of the relative phase permeability of the liquid on the gas saturation. It is shown that periodic self–oscillations can appear, and their evolution leads to deterministic chaos due to the appearance and destruction of quasiperiodic motions.     

Effect of viscoelastic properties of a liquid on the dynamics of small oscillations of a gas bubble

A series of papers has been devoted to questions of gas bubble dynamics in viscoeiastic liquids. Of these papers we mention [1–4]. The radial oscillations of a gas bubble in an incompressible viscoeiastic liquid have been studied numerically in [1, 2] using Oldroyd's model [5]. Anexact solution was found in [3], and independently in [4], for the equation of small density oscillations of a cavity in an Oldroyd medium when there is a periodic pressure change at infinity. The analysis of bubble oscillations in a viscoeiastic liquid is complicated by properties of limiting transitions in the rheological equation of the medium. These properties are of particular interest for the problem under investigation. These properties are discussed below, and characteristics of the small oscillations of a bubble in an Oldroyd medium are investigated on the basis of a numerical analysis of the exact solution obtained in [3].Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhnicheskoi Fiziki, No. 3, pp. 82–87, May–June, 1976.The authors are grateful to V. N. Nikolaevskii for useful advice and for discussing the results.     

An improved method for calculation of interface pressure force in PLIC-VOF methods

A method for the application of interface force in the computational modeling of free surfaces and interfaces which uses PLIC-VOF methods is developed. This method is based on evaluation of the surface tension force only in the interfacial cells with out using the neighboring cells. The normal and the interface surface area needed for the calculation of the surface tension force are calculated more accurately. This method is applied on a staggered grid and it is referred to as Staggered Grid Interfere Pressure calculation method or SGIP. The present method is applied to a two-dimensional motionless liquid drop and a gas bubble. In addition, oscillations of a non-circular two-dimensional drop and a bubble due only to the surface tension forces are considered. It is shown that the new method predicts the pressure jump at the interface more accurately and produces less spurious currents compared to CSF, CSS and Meier's methods when applied to the same cases.     

Bubble behaviors of geldart B particle in a pseudo two-dimensional pressurized fluidized bed

Pressurized fluidized beds have been developed in quite a few industrial applications because of intensified heat and mass transfer and chemical reaction. The bubble behaviors under elevated pressure, strongly influencing the fluidization and reaction conversion of the whole system, are of great research significance. In this work, the bubble behaviors of Geldart B particle in a pseudo two-dimensional (2D) pressurized fluidized bed were experimentally studied based on digital image analysis technique. The effects of pressure and fluidization gas velocity on the general bubble behaviors (i.e., size, shape and spatial distribution) and the dynamic characteristics, such as the time-evolution of voidage distribution and local flow regimes, were comprehensively investigated. Results show that increasing pressure reduces the stability of bubbles and facilitates gas passing through the emulsion phase, resulting in the “smoother” fluidization state with smaller bubbles and declined bubble fraction and standard deviation. The equivalent bubble diameter and bubble aspect ratio increase with the increasing gas velocity while decrease as pressure rises. The elevated pressure reduces bubbles extension in the vertical direction, prohibits the “short pass” of fluidization gas in large oblong bubbles/slugs and benefits the gas–solid interaction. The flow regimes variation with gas velocity is affected by the elevated pressure, and demonstrates different features in different local positions of the bed.     

Two-phase flow instabilities in a silicon microchannels heat sink

Two-phase flow instabilities are highly undesirable in microchannels-based heat sinks as they can lead to temperature oscillations with high amplitudes, premature critical heat flux and mechanical vibrations. This work is an experimental study of boiling instabilities in a microchannel silicon heat sink with 40 parallel rectangular microchannels, having a length of 15 mm and a hydraulic diameter of 194 μm. A series of experiments have been carried out to investigate pressure and temperature oscillations during the flow boiling instabilities under uniform heating, using water as a cooling liquid. Thin nickel film thermometers, integrated on the back side of a heat sink with microchannels, were used in order to obtain a better insight related to temperature fluctuations caused by two-phase flow instabilities. Flow regime maps are presented for two inlet water temperatures, showing stable and unstable flow regimes. It was observed that boiling leads to asymmetrical flow distribution within microchannels that result in high temperature non-uniformity and the simultaneously existence of different flow regimes along the transverse direction. Two types of two-phase flow instabilities with appreciable pressure and temperature fluctuations were observed, that depended on the heat to mass flux ratio and inlet water temperature. These were high amplitude/low frequency and low amplitude/high frequency instabilities. High speed camera imaging, performed simultaneously with pressure and temperature measurements, showed that inlet/outlet pressure and the temperature fluctuations existed due to alternation between liquid/two-phase/vapour flows. It was also determined that the inlet water subcooling condition affects the magnitudes of the temperature oscillations in two-phase flow instabilities and flow distribution within the microchannels.     

Nucleation and growth of a gas bubble in magma

The dynamics of a “collective” gas bubble in the magma melt during its decompression was numerically studied on the basis of a complete mathematical models of an explosive volcanic eruption. It is shown that the bubble size distribution obtained for the nucleation process has one peak, which allows considering a “collective” bubble. The main stages of bubble growth due to gas diffusion and changes in the viscosity of the medium are determined. It is shown that the high viscosity of the melt makes possible the transition from the Rayleigh equation to a simpler relation for the radial velocity of the bubble.