Numerical Investigation of Flow Structure and Heat Transfer Produced by a Single Highly Confined Bubble in a Pressure-Driven Channel Flow

A numerical investigation of a single highly confined bubble moving through a millimeter-scale channel in the absence of phase change is presented. The simulation includes thermal boundary conditions designed to match those of completed experiments involving bubbly flows with large numbers of bubbles. The channel is horizontal with a uniform-heat-generation upper wall and an adiabatic lower boundary condition. The use of a Lagrangian framework allows for the simulation of a channel of arbitrary length using a limited computational domain. The liquid phase is a low-Reynolds-number laminar flow, and the phase interactions are modeled using the volume-of-fluid (VOF) method with full geometric reconstruction of the liquid/gas interface. Results are presented for three bubble diameters, which include two levels of confinement within the channel and two liquid flow rates. Bubble shape and speed closely match experimental observations for each bubble size and liquid flow rate. Nusselt numbers in the bubble wake for all configurations follow a power law relationship with distance behind the bubble. Important dynamical structures include a pair of vortical structures at the rear of the bubble associated with the primary heat transfer enhancement and a pair of prominent liquid jets oriented in the transverse direction on either side of the bubble.