Bubbles in Non-Newtonian Fluids: A Multiscale Modeling

Abstract

In this paper, the concept of a multiscale modeling approach is highlighted with which physical phenomena at different scales can be studied. The work reports a multiscale approach to describe the dynamics of a chain of bubbles rising in non-Newtonian fluids. By means of the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and the Lattice Boltzmann (LB) simulation, a deep understanding of the complex flow pattern around a single bubble is gained at microscale. The interactions and coalescences between bubbles rising in non-Newtonian fluids are experimentally investigated by the PIV measurements, birefringence and rheological characterization for both an isolated bubble and a chain of bubbles formed from a submerged orifice. Two aspects are identified as central to interactions and coalescence: the stress creation by the passage of bubbles and their relaxation due to the fluid’s memory. This competition between the creation and relaxation of stresses displays non-linear complex dynamics. Along with the detailed knowledge around a single bubble, these fundamental mechanisms governing bubbles’ collective behavior in a train of bubbles at mesoscale lead to a cognitive modeling based on behavioral rules. By simulating bubbles as adaptive agents with the surround fluid via residual stresses, model predictions for consecutive coalescence between a great number of bubbles compare very satisfactorily with the experimental investigation at macroscale. Obviously this new approach captures important quantitative and qualitative features of the collective behaviors of bubbles at macroscale level which are predicted by the mesoscopic cognitive modeling approach of the interactions rules which are deduced from the understanding of the microscopic mechanism of the flow around a single bubble.