Hydrodynamics and gas-liquid mass transfer around a confined sliding bubble

An experimental investigation of gas-liquid mass transfer in the wake of a confined air bubble sliding under an inclined wall in a 2D Hele-Shaw cell is reported. A colorimetric technique based on an oxygen-sensitive dye was used to visualize the oxygen transfer. Bubble velocities, shape eccentricities, interfacial areas and, for the first time, the instantaneous spatio-temporal distribution of oxygen concentration fields in the bubble wake, have been investigated for upper wall inclination angles of 10 degrees <= alpha <= 60 degrees and Archimedes numbers of 783 <= Ar <= 3221. Image processing has allowed, through a specific approach, a quantification of mass transfer. The calculation of the mass flux allowed the deduction of the liquid-side mass transfer coefficient k(L). Experiments reveals that, at low angles of inclination, bubble velocities decelerates, shape eccentricities increased, and the instantaneous spatial and temporal distribution of oxygen concentration fields illustrated two distinct regions underneath the sliding bubble: a single vortex loop enclosing the near wake where oxygen is transferred, and a far wake containing oxygen in the form of a single long strip. When inclination angles and bubble sizes were increasing, velocities were increasing, the vortex elongated gradually until it disappears at high angles where total mass fluxes increased. This increase of bubble velocities has increased liquid-side mass transfer coefficient k(L) allowing a scaling law between the Sherwood number and the modified Archimedes number Ar.sin(alpha) to be proposed .