Passage of a Single Bubble through a Liquid-Liquid Interface

The phenomenon of passage of a single bubble through the interface between two immiscible and quiescent liquids is studied by using numerical simulations. The liquids considered are viscous and Newtonian. The volume of fluid method has been used for tracking the interface between the three fluids. Validation is carried out by using the experimental data reported in the literature. The validated numerical model is used to perform parametric analysis to understand the effects of bubble diameter and relevant physical properties (interfacial tension between the two liquids, viscosity ratio of the two liquids, and the density difference between the two liquids). Specifically, dependence of the retention time and retention height of the bubble on bubble size and physical properties is studied. Correlations for the retention time and retention height are proposed.