Title: Effect of column angles to rise velocity of a single bubble: a CFD study

Authors: Poo Balan Ganesan; Md. Tariqul Islam; Jaya Narayan Sahu; Shanti C. Sandaran

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ' Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Institute Technology Brunei, Tungku Gadong, P.O. Box 2909, Darussalam, Brunei ' Language Academy, University Technology Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia

Abstract: The present study investigates the effect of trapezoidal type columns to rise velocity of a single bubble in quiescent water using a couple level set volume of fluid (CLSVOF) methods. The bubble rising characteristics such as spatial distribution and shape deformation in different types of trapezoidal columns with inclination angles of 3°, 6°, 9° from vertical wall will be presented. The results from these cases will be compared with a benchmark case which is based on a rectangular domain (0°). The bubble rising velocity reduces with the increase of trapezoidal angle. Subsequently, the bubble rising distance for a given particular total time reduces with the increase of the trapezoidal angle, which enhances the lateral distribution of a bubble from left to right and vice versa of the column with the increase of the time, may enhance the gas hold up, the heat and mass transfer between gas and liquid.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; CFD; rising bubbles; terminal velocity; bubble shape; trapezoidal columns; column angles; rise velocity; quiescent water; heat and mass transfer; heat transfer.

DOI: 10.1504/PCFD.2016.078754

Progress in Computational Fluid Dynamics, An International Journal, 2016 Vol.16 No.5, pp.288 - 299

Received: 17 Jun 2014
Accepted: 01 Apr 2015

Published online: 02 Sep 2016 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article