Computational approach for a pair of bubble coalescence process

The coalescence of bubbles has great value in mineral recovery and oil industry. In this paper, two co-axial bubbles rising in a cylinder is modelled to study the coalescence of bubbles for four computational experimental test cases. The Reynolds' (Re) number is chosen in between 8.50 and 10, Bond number, Bo similar to 4.25-50, Morton number, M 0.0125-14.7. The viscosity ratio (mu(r)) and density ratio (rho(r)) of liquid to bubble are kept constant (100 and 850 respectively). It was found that the Bo number has significant effect on the coalescence process for constant Re, mu(r) and rho(r). The bubble-bubble distance over time was validated against published experimental data. The results show that VOF approach can be used to model these phenomena accurately. The surface tension was changed to alter the Bo and density of the fluids to alter the Re and M, keeping the mu(r) and rho(r) the same. It was found that for lower Bo, the bubble coalesce is slower and the pocket at the lower part of the leading bubble is less concave (towards downward) which is supported by the experimental data. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.