Numerical bubble dynamics

A computational study of the dynamics of a gas bubble rising in a viscous liquid is presented. The proposed numerical method allows to simulate a wide range of flow regimes, accurately capturing the shape of the deforming interface of the bubble and the surface tension effect, while maintaining a good mass conservation. With the present numerical method, the high-Reynolds number wobbling bubble regime exhibiting unsymmetric vortex path in the wake has been successfully simulated. The computed time-evolution of bubble's interface area, position and rise velocity shows a good agreement with the available experimental data. Some results on bubble coalescence phenomena are demonstrated. Our studies reveal that plausible results can be obtained with two-dimensional numerical simulations, when a single buoyant bubble or a coalescence of a pair of bubbles is considered.