Simulation of Interactions Between Microbubbles and Turbulent Flows

Microbubbles formed by small air bubbles in water are characterized as spherical inclusions that are essentially rigid due to the effects of surfactants, and respond to the action of drag forces and added-mass effects from the motion relative to the surrounding fluid. Direct numerical simulations of homogeneous, isotropic turbulence are used to study the effects of the small-scale, dissipation range turbulence on microbubble transport and in particular the average rise velocity of microbubbles. It is found that microbubbles rise significantly more slowly than in still fluid even in the absence of a mean flow, due to a strong interaction with the small-scale vorticity. The way in which microbubbles might modify the underlying turbulence by the variations in their local distribution is discussed for dilute, dispersed systems and some estimates for the enhanced viscous dissipation given.