Terminal velocities of clean and fully-contaminated drops in vertical pipes

Terminal velocities and shapes of drops rising through vertical pipes in clean and fully-contaminated systems are measured by using a high-speed video camera and an image processing method. Silicon oils and glycerol water solutions are used for the dispersed and continuous phases, respectively. Triton X-100 is used for surfactant. Clean and contaminated drops take either spherical, spheroidal or deformed spheroidal shapes when the diameter ratio λ is less than a critical value, λ_C, whereas they take bullet shapes for λ > λ_C (Taylor drops). The applicability of available drag and Froude number correlations is examined through comparisons with the measured data. Effects of surfactant on the shape and terminal velocity of a Taylor drop are also discussed based on the experimental data and interface tracking simulations. The conclusions obtained are as follows: (1) drag and Froude number correlations proposed so far give reasonable estimations of the terminal velocities of clean drops at any λ, (2) the terminal velocities of contaminated drops are well evaluated by making the viscosity ratio μ^* infinity in the drag correlation for clean drops in the viscous force dominant regime, (3) the effects of surfactant on the shape and terminal velocity of a Taylor drop become significant as the Eötvös number, Eo_D, decreases and μ^* increases, and (4) the reduction in surface tension due to the addition of surfactant would be the cause of the increase in the terminal velocity and elongation of a contaminated Taylor drop.