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Title Boundary layer solution for a bubble rising through a liquid containing surface-active contaminants
Creator/Author Andrews, G.F. ; Wong, S.L.S. [Lockheed Idaho Technologies Co., Idaho Falls, ID (United States). Idaho National Engineering Lab.]
Publication Date1995 Apr 01
OSTI IdentifierOSTI ID: 63161
Other Number(s)IECRED; ISSN 0888-5885
Resource TypeJournal Article
Resource RelationIndustrial and Engineering Chemistry Research ; VOL. 34 ; ISSUE: 4 ; PBD: Apr 1995
Subject42 ENGINEERING NOT INCLUDED IN OTHER CATEGORIES ; TWO-PHASE FLOW; FLOW MODELS; BUBBLES; SURFACTANTS; ADSORPTION; INTERFACES; SURFACE TENSION; HYDRODYNAMICS; BOUNDARY LAYERS
Description/Abstract Millimeter-sized bubbles rise through most liquids with Reynolds numbers of several hundred. A boundary layer solution is given for flow over the upper surface of spherical or spherical-cap bubbles when surface-active solutes adsorb on the bubble interface and inhibit its motion. Diffusion of adsorbed surfactant along the interface is shown to be negligible. The surfactant accumulates not as a cap around the bottom of the bubble, as in the creeping-flow case, but in a band around the flow separation point from where it desorbs back into solution. The bubble interface is stationary at, or slightly above (if diffusion along the interface is considered), the flow separation point. As much surfactant desorbs from as adsorbs to the interface in the boundary-layer region, and since this equality must hold for the whole bubble, it is also true for the wake region. The flow separation angle moves from 130 to 80{degree} with increasing surfactant concentration. This may, however, also reflect a change in bubble shape since the accumulation of surfactant reduces the interfacial tension and could be producing the sharp corner characteristic of the flow separation point in spherical-cap bubbles. The research has applications in fermentation and gas/liquid reaction processes and the particle capture rate by the bubbles in flotation processes.
Country of PublicationUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Formatpp. 1371-1382 ; PL:
System Entry Date2001 May 03

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