Prediction of fluid velocity distribution near a rising bubble

A model is presented for predicting the fluid velocity distribution around a rising bubble which starts from rest on a distillation column tray by considering the unsteady fluid flow based on the method of stream function. Experimental measurement of the velocity distribution by using whole field digitized PIV (particle image velocimetry) method is briefly described. The velocity distribution predicted by the present model is in better agreement with the measurements than the others models published in literature.