Study on Bubble Breakup Mechanism in a Venturi Tube

Microbubbles are expected to be applied in various subjects such as engineering and medical fields. Thus, on-demand microbubble generation techniques with high efficiently are required. In the present study, the microbubble generator using a venturi tube (converging-diverging nozzle) is focused. Although this technique realizes generation of many tiny bubbles with less than several-hundred-micrometer diameter, there are several unsolved parts of flow structure in a venturi tube on bubble breakup behavior. The purpose of this study is to clarify the bubble breakup mechanism in a venturi tube for practical use. In the present study, using a high speed camera for detailed observation of bubble behavior, the following features were obtained. In low velocity conditions, bubbles are divided in several pieces with a jet penetrating from the top (downstream) to the bottom (upstream) part of the bubble. In high velocity conditions, bubbles collapse in countless microbubbles with a drastic bubble expansion and shrinkage. Also, in order to clarify the flow structure in a venturi tube, pressure profile is measured in detail. Under chocking condition, the pressure profile shows the tendency of supersonic flow in a Laval nozzle and sudden pressure gradient appears in the diverging section. There are strong correlations between bubble fission points and pressure recovery points. It is suggested that bubble collapse is strongly influenced with pressure recovery in the diverging section.