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  4. Pore-scale analysis of the minimum liquid film thickness around elongated bubbles in confined gas-liquid flows
 
research article

Pore-scale analysis of the minimum liquid film thickness around elongated bubbles in confined gas-liquid flows

Magnini, M.
•
Beisel, A. M.
•
Ferrari, A.
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2017
Advances In Water Resources

The fluid mechanics of elongated bubbles in confined gas-liquid flows in micro-geometries is important in pore-scale flow processes for enhanced oil recovery and mobilization of colloids in unsaturated soil. The efficiency of such processes is traditionally related to the thickness of the liquid film trapped between the elongated bubble and the pore's wall, which is assumed constant. However, the surface of long bubbles presents undulations in the vicinity of the rear meniscus, which may significantly decrease the local thickness of the liquid film, thus impacting the process of interest. This study presents a systematic analysis of these undulations and the minimum film thickness induced in the range Ca = 0.001-0.5 and Re = 0.1-2000. Pore-scale Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are performed with a self-improved version of the opensource solver ESI OpenFOAM which is based on a Volume of Fluid method to track the gas-liquid interface. A lubrication model based on the extension of the classical axisymmetric Bretherton theory is utilized to better understand the CFD results. The profiles of the rear meniscus of the bubble obtained with the lubrication model agree fairly well with those extracted from the CFD simulations. This study shows that the Weber number of the flow, We = Ca Re, is the parameter that best describes the dynamics of the interfacial waves. When We < 0.1, a single wave crest is observed and the minimum film thickness tends to an asymptotic value, which depends on the capillary number, as We -> 0. Undulations dampen as the capillary number increases and disappear completely when Ca = 0. 5. When We > 0.1, a larger number of wave crests becomes evident on the surface of the rear meniscus of the bubble. The liquid film thickness at the crests of the undulations thins considerably as the Reynolds number is increased, down to less than 60% of the value measured in the flat film region. This may significantly influence important environmental processes, such as the detachment and mobilization of micron-sized pollutants and pathogenic micro-organisms adhering at the pore's wall in unsaturated soil. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  • Details
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Type
research article
DOI
10.1016/j.advwatres.2017.08.020
Web of Science ID

WOS:000416037100007

Author(s)
Magnini, M.
Beisel, A. M.
Ferrari, A.
Thome, J. R.  
Date Issued

2017

Publisher

Elsevier Sci Ltd

Published in
Advances In Water Resources
Volume

109

Start page

84

End page

93

Subjects

Bubbles

•

Capillary flow

•

Lubrication model

•

Volume of fluid

•

Interfacial waves

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LTCM  
Available on Infoscience
January 15, 2018
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/143909
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