Effect of bubble deformability in turbulent bubbly upflow in a vertical channel

Abstract

As bubbles rising in a vertical channel with upflow become bigger, it is well known that the void fraction distribution changes in a fundamental way, from a wall peak for small bubbles to a maximum void fraction at the channel center for larger bubbles. Here, we use direct numerical simulations of buoyant bubbles in a turbulent flow to show that it is not the size of the bubbles that matters, but their deformability.