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Inertial dynamics of air bubbles crossing a horizontal fluid–fluid interface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2012

Romain Bonhomme ,
Jacques Magnaudet ,
Fabien Duval  and
Bruno Piar
Romain Bonhomme
Affiliation:
Université de Toulouse; INPT, UPS; IMFT (Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse); Allée Camille Soula, F-31400 Toulouse, France CNRS; IMFT; F-31400 Toulouse, France Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, BP 3, 13115 St Paul lez Durance CEDEX, France
Jacques Magnaudet*
Affiliation:
Université de Toulouse; INPT, UPS; IMFT (Institut de Mécanique des Fluides de Toulouse); Allée Camille Soula, F-31400 Toulouse, France CNRS; IMFT; F-31400 Toulouse, France
Fabien Duval
Affiliation:
Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, BP 3, 13115 St Paul lez Durance CEDEX, France
Bruno Piar
Affiliation:
Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, BP 3, 13115 St Paul lez Durance CEDEX, France
*
†Email address for correspondence: magnau@imft.fr
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Abstract

The dynamics of isolated air bubbles crossing the horizontal interface separating two Newtonian immiscible liquids initially at rest are studied both experimentally and computationally. High-speed video imaging is used to obtain a detailed evolution of the various interfaces involved in the system. The size of the bubbles and the viscosity contrast between the two liquids are varied by more than one and four orders of magnitude, respectively, making it possible to obtain bubble shapes ranging from spherical to toroidal. A variety of flow regimes is observed, including that of small bubbles remaining trapped at the fluid–fluid interface in a film-drainage configuration. In most cases, the bubble succeeds in crossing the interface without being stopped near its undisturbed position and, during a certain period of time, tows a significant column of lower fluid which sometimes exhibits a complex dynamics as it lengthens in the upper fluid. Direct numerical simulations of several selected experimental situations are performed with a code employing a volume-of-fluid type formulation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. Comparisons between experimental and numerical results confirm the reliability of the computational approach in most situations but also points out the need for improvements to capture some subtle but important physical processes, most notably those related to film drainage. Influence of the physical parameters highlighted by experiments and computations, especially that of the density and viscosity contrasts between the two fluids and of the various interfacial tensions, is discussed and analysed in the light of simple models and available theories.

JFM classification

Interfacial Flows (free surface): Capillary flows Drops and Bubbles: Drops and Bubbles
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 707 , 25 September 2012 , pp. 405 - 443
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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