Nonlinear bubbling and micro-convection at a submerged orifice

The present paper describes the nonlinear behavior of bubble formation from a single submerged orifice and induced liquid motion (micro-convection) surrounding the bubble. The experimental data reveals that departing periods of successive bubbles evolve multiple periods from single to triple periods when the gas flow rate is increased and that the micro-convection evolves bifurcation phenomena similar to the so-called “period doubling” in chaos dynamics. The photographic observation using high-speed video movies and data analysis indicate that the nonlinear features come from the deformation of the bubble and also the interaction between consecutive bubbles. A new comprehensive theoretical model is developed for describing the instantaneous bubble behaviors during formation and ascendance processes and for predicting the departing periods and sizes of successive bubbles for constant flow rate conditions. Owing to the estimation of instantaneous interactions between successive bubbles and the incorporation of the wake effect of previous bubbles, the present model describes the evolution process and mechanisms of bubble departing periods corresponding to different gas flow rate regimes. The theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental results.