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Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.21, No.7, 705-713, 2013
Numerical Study on Interaction Between Two Bubbles Rising Side by Side in CMC Solution
A numerical simulation was performed to investigate the interaction of two bubbles rising side by side in shear-thinning fluid using volume of fluid (VOF) method coupled with continuous surface force (CSF) method. By considering rheological characteristics of fluid, this approach was able to accurately capture the deformation of bubble interface, and validated by comparing with the experimental results. The rising of bubble pairs with different configurations, including horizontal alignment and oblique alignment, was simulated by the method. The influences of the bubble initial distance and the bubble alignment were studied by analyzing the bubble deformation, rising paths and flow fields surrounding bubbles. The results indicate that within certain initial bubble spacing of S* = 3.3 (S* = S-I/D, S-I initial distance between bubbles, and D bubble diameter), the dynamic interaction between two bubbles aligned horizontally shows repulsive effect that decreases with the increase of initial bubble spacing, but weakens to certain degree by the shear-thinning properties of fluid. However, the interaction between two bubbles aligned obliquely presents a repulsive effect for the small angle involved but an attractive impact for the large one, which is yet strengthened by the rheological characteristics of fluid.