A numerical study of the phase distribution in oscillatory bubbly flows

The evolution of the distribution of several bubbles in a channel subjected to periodic oscillations is examined using direct numerical simulations. The flow is initially quiescent and the bubbles are randomly distributed in the domain, which is bounded by walls parallel to the direction of oscillations, and periodic in the perpendicular direction. The results show that the oscillations lead to clustering of the bubbles, generally spanning the channel cross-section. The dependency of the rate at which the bubbles clusters, the inter-cluster distances and the void fraction distribution, on the frequency and amplitude of oscillations, as well as the fluid properties, are examined.