Buoyancy-driven motion of a two-dimensional bubble or drop through a viscous liquid in the presence of a vertical electric field |
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Authors: | Stefan Mählmann Demetrios T Papageorgiou |
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Institution: | (1) Earth Sciences Division 90-1116, Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA |
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Abstract: | The effect of an electric field on the buoyancy-driven motion of a two-dimensional gas bubble rising through a quiescent liquid
is studied computationally. The dynamics of the bubble is simulated numerically by tracking the gas–liquid interface when
an electrostatic field is generated in the vertical gap of the rectangular enclosure. The two phases of the system are assumed
to be perfect dielectrics with constant but different permittivities, and in the absence of impressed charges, there is no
free charge in the fluid bulk regions or at the interface. Electric stresses are supported at the bubble interface but absent
in the bulk and one of the objectives of our computations is to quantify the effect of these Maxwell stresses on the overall
bubble dynamics. The numerical algorithm to solve the free-boundary problem relies on the level-set technique coupled with
a finite-volume discretization of the Navier–Stokes equations. The sharp interface is numerically approximated by a finite-thickness
transition zone over which the material properties vary smoothly, and surface tension and electric field effects are accounted
for by employing a continuous surface force approach. A multi-grid solver is applied to the Poisson equation describing the
pressure field and the Laplace equation governing the electric field potential. Computational results are presented that address
the combined effects of viscosity, surface tension, and electric fields on the dynamics of the bubble motion as a function
of the Reynolds number, gravitational Bond number, electric Bond number, density ratio, and viscosity ratio. It is established
through extensive computations that the presence of the electric field can have an important effect on the dynamics. We present
results that show a substantial increase in the bubble’s rise velocity in the electrified system as compared with the corresponding
non-electrified one. In addition, for the electrified system, the bubble shape deformations and oscillations are smaller,
and there is a reduction in the propensity of the bubble to break up through increasingly larger oscillations. |
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