Viscosity effects on the behavior of a rising bubble

In the incompressible fluid flow regime, without taking consideration of surface tension effects, the viscosity effects on the behavior of an initially spherical buoyancy-driven bubble rising in an infinite and initially stationary liquid are investigated numerically by the Volume Of Fluid (VOF) method. The ratio of the gas density to the liquid density is taken as 0.001, and the gas viscosity to the liquid viscosity is 0.01, which is close to the case of an air bubble rising in water. It is found by numerical experiments that there exist two critical Reynolds numbers Re1 and Re2, which are in between 30 and 50 and in between 10 and 20, respectively. As Re > Re1 the bubble will have the transition to toroidal form, and the toroidal bubble will break down into two toroidal bubbles. In this case viscosity will damp the development of the liquid jet and delay the formation of the toroidal bubble. As Re Re*, it will not rise with a constant speed. The mechanism of the above phenomena has been analyzed theoretically and numerically.