Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186

www.elsevier.com/locate/ces

An improved model for bubble formation using the

boundary-integral method
Zongyuan Xiao, Reginald B.H. Tan∗
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Singapore

Received 8 August 2003; received in revised form 23 June 2004; accepted 18 July 2004
Available online 11 September 2004

Abstract
A model for bubble formation from a single submerged orifice is developed using the boundary-integral method. Since the flow field
is assumed to be irrotational, potential-flow theory is used to predict the growth of the bubble. The effects of the surface tension and
the liquid circulation around the bubble are included in the calculation. Predictions of bubble shape, chamber pressure and the effect of
surface tension are presented to compare with reported experimental data.
䉷 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Bubble formation; Boundary-integral method; Mathematical modeling; Orifice; Potential-flow; Thermodynamics

1. Introduction 2. Model development and numerical method

Over the past decades, numerous theoretical and exper- The system under consideration is shown in Fig. 1. Gas
imental studies have been reported in the field of bubble is pumped into a chamber at a constant flow rate, Q, and
formation. In addition, many models have been developed bubbles out through a small orifice into a bath of liquid. The
to predict bubble formation, such as those by Marmur and viscosity of the liquid is assumed negligible and the flow
Rubin (1976), Pinczewski (1981), Tsuge and Hibino (1983), is assumed to be irrotational. Therefore, a velocity potential
Tan and Harris (1986) and Hooper (1986). exists, u = ∇
, with Laplace’s equation
In the model proposed by Hooper (1986), the boundary-
integral method, a popular and successful numerical tech- ∇ 2
= 0. (1)
nique, was used to predict bubble formation. The boundary-
integral method is based on Green’s formula that enables
Then Bernoulli integral is applied between the liquid side
us to reformulate the potential problem as the solution of a
of the bubble surface and a point in the liquid chosen at a
Fredholm integral equation. This formulation has the effect
large distance from the orifice on the plane z = 0,
of reducing the dimension of the problem by one, which has
the advantage of rendering the technique computationally
efficient, yet rigorous. Some applications of this method can *
1 2 Pl Po
+ |u| + + gz = (2)
be found in Blake et al. (1986, 1987), Bonnet (1995) and *t 2 l l
Power (1995).
where Po = P∞ + l gH is the hydrostatic pressure at the
orifice, P∞ is the system pressure and H is the total height
of liquid above the orifice.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +65-6874-6360; fax: +65-6779-1936. It is convenient to express the dynamic boundary con-
E-mail address: chetanbh@nus.edu.sg (R.B.H. Tan). dition in terms of a material derivative by employing the

0009-2509/$ - see front matter 䉷 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ces.2004.07.064
180 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186

Gas P∞ it follows that:

Pc q

Q =
−1
Liquid
z

W is the work done externally and is given by
H
W = Pc q.
Vb
Substituting these equations into Eq. (6) it follows that:
Pb
r dPb dVb
Vb + P b = Pc q. (7)
dt dt
q
Similarly for the chamber alone, we derive
dPc
Vc Pc Q Vc = Pa Q − Pc q. (8)
dt
Gas chamber
The volumetric flow through the orifice, q, as follows:
b dVb
q= . (9)
c dt
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the bubble system.
Substituting the above equation into Eq. (8) and integrating
equation, it follows:
identity
P a P c b
Pc (t) − Pc (0) = Qt − (Vb (t) − Vb (0)). (10)
D
*
Vc c V c
= + |u|2
Dt *t Assuming the density is constant b = c and Pa = Pc , the
D
1 2 P o − Pl above equation becomes
Thus = |u| − gz + . (3)
Dt 2 l c02 c
Pc (t) = Pc (0) + [Qt − Vb (t) + Vb (0)] (11)
The liquid phase pressure at any point on the bubble surface, Vc
Pl , is related to pressure within the bubble, Pb , by
where c02 = RTc , the sound speed assumed to be constant.
Pl = Pb −  (4) The orifice equation that relates the volumetric flow
through the orifice, q, to the pressure difference across the
where  is the surface tension coefficient and  the local orifice as follows:
curvature of the bubble surface.

Pc − P b
q = k(R02 ) (12)
2.1. Thermodynamic equations for the gas flow c

where k is the orifice coefficient.

Conservation of mass on the chamber yields
Initially, if we assume q = Q, it follows that:
d c
Vc = a Q − c q (5) Q 2 c
dt Pb (0) = Pc (0) − . (13)
k 2 (Ro2 )2
where a and c are the gas densities at supply and cham-
ber conditions, respectively. From the first law of thermo- From Eqs. (11) (12) and (13), we obtain
dynamics applied to the bubble, it follows that
c02 c
Pb (t)=Pb (0) + [Qt − Vb (t) + Vb (0)]
d
(Eb ) = −Pb
dVb
+
Q +
W Vc
(6)    
dt dt c dVb 2
+ Q −
2
. (14)
where Eb is the internal energy of the gas in the bubble. k 2 (Ro2 )2 dt
Assuming the gas satisfies the ideal gas law,
P b Vb 2.2. Curvature of bubble surface
Eb =
−1
In the absence of liquid cross-flow across the orifice, the
where  is the adiabatic exponent.
Q is the heat added, and bubble can be assumed to be axisymmetric, and we use a
assuming adiabatic behavior within the bubble and chamber, number of two-dimensional (r, z) elements to represent it.
 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186 181

According to the Young–Laplace equation, the local curva-
ture of certain point on the surface is defined as
1 1
= + (15)
R1 R2
where R1 and R2 are principal radii of curvature, on vertical
and horizontal planes, respectively. From analytical geom-
etry, the principal radii of curvature may be represented by
the following equations (Gray, 1998):
1 z
In order to solve the problem of the two-dimensional
bubble computationally, firstly the surface is represented by
n points which divide the surface into (n−1) elements. Then
an isoparametric linear approximation is used for the surface
and the functions. Thus on each segment, Sj (j =1, L, n−1),
we have
r() = rj (1 − ) + rj +1 
z() = zj (1 − ) + zj +1 

() =
j (1 − ) +
j +1 

1 z

= and = (16) *
*
j *
j +1

R1 (1 + z
2 )3/2 R2 r(1 + z
2 )1/2 ( ) = (1 − ) +  (20)
*n *n *n
where, r and z represent horizontal and vertical positions
on the profile, and z
and z

denote the first and second where the parameter  is in the range (0, 1).
derivatives with respect to r which can be obtained through Collocation points are chosen to be these n points on the
curve fitting written in the form z = z(r) along the bubble surface, yielding n equations with the following form:
surface.  
n−1 
 * 1
2
i + [(1 − )
j + 
j +1 ] ds
2.3. Volumetric growth rate of bubble j =1 Sj
*n |pi − qj |
n−1 
  
 *
j *
j +1
With the values of the normal velocity *

*n
at a number of = (1 − ) +
1
ds
points on bubble surface Sb , the bubble volumetric growth Sj * n *n |pi − qj |
j =1
rate can be obtained by the integral (i = 1, L, n) (21)

dVb *
where pi is the ith point chosen as collocation point
= 2 r ds. (17)
dt Sb *n with cylindrical coordinates pi = (ri , zi , 0) and qj is
any point on the segment Sj with cylindrical coordinates
2.4. Normal velocity qj = (r(), z(), ).
After assembly, the set of equations has the following
For any sufficiently smooth function
, which satis- matrix structure:
fies Laplace’s equation in a domain  having a piecewise
smooth surface S, Green’s integral formula can be written *

A
= B (22)
as (Brebbia, 1978; Jaswon and Symm, 1977): *n

* where A and B are n × n matrices with the following values
c(p)
(p) +
(q) G(p, q) dS of items aij and bij
s *n

*   
= (
(q))G(p, q) dS (18) * 1
s *n aij =2
ij + (1 − ) ds
Sj *n |pi − qj |
  
where p ∈  +S, q ∈ S, **n is the normal derivative outward * 1
from S, G(p, q) is Green’s function +  ds (23)
Sj −1 *n |pi − qj −1 |
1  
G(p, q) = (19) 1 1
|p − q| bij = (1−) ds+  ds (24)
Sj |pi −qj | Sj −1 |pi −qj −1 |
and
 *

4, if p ∈ 
and are vectors as follows:
c(p) = . *n
2, if p ∈ S

= [
1 ,
2 , LL,
n ]T
2.5. Axisymmetric bubbles

T
*
*
1 *
2 *
n
As the bubble is assumed to be axisymmetric, a cylin- = , , LL, .
*n *n *n *n
drical coordinate system is used. Two-dimensional integrals
are reduced further to one dimension by integrating through The integrals are performed analytically through the
the polar angle. In this case the Green’s functions involve azimuthal angle from 0 to 2 to yield complete ellip-
complete elliptic integrals. tic integrals and then numerically evaluated by using the
182 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186

Gauss–Legendre quadrature formula (Stroud and Secrest, z

1966). The singular integrals are performed by separating
p
the integrals into the logarithmically singular term and the
non-singular term (Pozrikidis, 1992). The integral in Eq. q(ri, zi)
(24) becomes

1
dS
Sj |p i − qj |
 1    2 1/2
dr 2 dz Rigid Boundary z=0
= dr() + r
0 d d
 2
d
×  1/2
0 (r()+ri ) +(z()−zi )2 −4r()ri cos2 2
2
 2
1/2
2
 1 dr() d + ddz
dr

= q'(ri, -zi)
0 [(r() + ri ) + (z() − zi ) ]
2 2 1/2
 2
d
×  1/2 (25)
4r(  )r 2
i cos 2
0
1−
(r()+ri ) +(z()−zi )
2 2

Fig. 2. System of images.

4r()ri
with k 2 () = , the integral becomes
(r()+ri )2 +(z()−zi )2
Approximations for K(k) and E(k) are in the form
 2  
d 2 d
=4 K(k) = P (x) − Q(x) ln(x)
0 (1 − k 2 cos2 2 )1/2 0 (1 − k 2 cos2 )1/2
  E(k) = R(x) − S(x) ln(x)
2 d
=4 where x = 1 − k 2 .
0 (1 − k 2 sin2 )1/2
= 4K(k) (26) P , Q, R and S are tabulated polynomials that can be
found in Abramowitz and Stegun (1965). The matrix equa-
where K(k) is the complete elliptic integral of the first kind. tion (22) is solved by standard Gaussian Elimination to yield
Hence we have the normal velocities at the collocation points.

1 2.6. System of images
dS
Sj |pi − qj |
 2
1/2 A key boundary condition that needs to be specified is the
2
 1 4r() d + ddz
dr
K(k) zero-normal-velocity condition on the rigid boundary,
= d . (27)
[(r() + ri )2 + (z() − zi )2 ]1/2 *

0 = 0 on z = 0. (29)
*n
Similarly, the integral in Eq. (23) becomes
To satisfy this case of a rigid boundary, an image system
   should be introduced as shown in Fig. 2, whence Green’s
* 1 function (19) is replaced by
dS
Sj *n |pi − qj |
 1 1 1
dr() G(p, q) = + (30)
=−4 |p − q| |p − q
|
[(r(  ) + r i + (z() − zi ) ]
)2 2 3/2
 0

dz dr 2ri dz where q
is the image of q in the z = 0 plane.
× (r() + ri ) − (z() − zi ) − 2
d d k () d 

E(k) 2ri dz 2.7. Tangential velocity with cubic spline interpolation
× + K(k) (28)
1 − k 2 () k 2 () d
To complete the specification of the surface velocity at a
 given point, the tangential component must be approximated
where E(k)= 02 (1−k 2 sin2 )1/2 d is the complete elliptic from the given values of the velocity potential
(pi ) where
integral of the second kind. pi ∈ Sb . We choose the point at the top of the bubble on the
 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186 183

z Ro /U . Thus, the initial condition is that the bubble is a

hemisphere with unit dimensionless radius and unit dimen-
sionless velocity.
With respect to velocity potential, the initial conditions
SB are:
∂φ
= −1 at bubble surface when t = 0
∂s
= 0 at z → ∞ when t = 0.
The initial value of the bubble pressure, Pb , is assumed
to be the sum of the hydrostatic pressure at the orifice and
Rigid Boundary θ r
the pressure due to surface tension,
C
2
Pb (0) = Po + . (32)
∂φ Ro
∂n
With Eqs. (4), (14) and (32), Eq. (3) can be rewritten as
 
D
1 2  2
Fig. 3. Illustration of the end point with contact angle. = |u| − gz + −
Dt 2 l Ro
c 
2
− 0 c [Qt − Vb (t) + Vb (0)]
Vc l
axis of symmetry as the beginning point and arc length as   
the parametric variable of the velocity potential. Then cubic c dVb 2
+ −Q .2
(33)
spline interpolation is used to construct an approximating k 2 (Ro2 )2 l dt
function
=
(s) which is used to compute the derivative

with respect to s. In developing the numerical solution of these equations, it is
Two boundary conditions are needed in the calculation. convenient to scale all terms to obtain dimensionless equa-
*

*s
= 0 at the top of the bubble because of axisymmetry. For tions. We choose the Froude number, Fr, Weber number, We,
the end point C, it belongs not only to the bubble surface, Volume number, Vn, and Orifice number, On, to represent
but also the rigid boundary of the plate. Since the interface the physical and geometrical scales in our bubbling system,
cannot completely detach from the plate and there is no flow where:
through the plate, C can only move along the plate so that the
boundary condition (29), with n the normal to the plate, must U2
apply to it. But since it also belongs to the bubble surface, Fr =
gR o
for consistency, the component of the velocity tangential and
normal to the bubble surface at C must also add up to a zero
l U 2 R o
velocity in the direction normal to plate, so that (Fig. 3) We =
  
*
 *

sin  − cos  = 0 (31)
*s c *n c Vn=
c Co2 Ro3
l Vc U 2
where  can be identified as the dynamic three-phase contact
angle (Liow and Gray, 1988). c
On =
l 2 k 2
2.8. Initial condition and non-dimensionalization
Thus Eq. (33) becomes
We assume that initially the bubble surface is a hemisphere
of radius equal to the orifice radius. Gas is pumped into the
D

1 2 1 1
system at a volumetric flow rate, Q, and the initial velocity = |
u| − 
z+  − 2)
(
of the bubble is taken to be D 2 Fr We
 − V
−V n[Q b ( ) + V
b (0)]
Q  2 
U= b
V
2Ro2 +On 
d
−Q 2  (34)
d
where Ro is the radius of the orifice.
We use the initial velocity U as a reference velocity and
the orifice radius Ro as the reference length. Time is rendered where is the dimensionless unit of time and ∧ denotes a
dimensionless with respect to the fundamental timescale dimensionless variable.
184 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186

2.9. Time stepping (A4b) and (C1) of Hooper, 1986) have been amended in our
present work.
To update the position of the bubble and the potential at
its surface through time, an iterative trapezium rule, Euler’s
Method, is used 4. Result and discussion

ri (
+

) = 
 ri (
) + ui,r (
)

The model is verified through comparison between theo-
zi (
+

) =
 z i (
) + 
ui,z (
)

retical computation and experimental data for low viscosity
 D
i (
) liquids as reported in the literature.

i (
+

) = 
i (
) +

(35) For the air-water system of Kupferberg and Jameson
D

(1969) with the following experimental conditions: gas flow
where ui,r and 
ui,z are radial velocity and axial velocity at rate Q = 16.7 cm3 /s; the radius of the orifice Ro = 0.16 cm;
ith point of the bubble surface respectively. chamber volume Vc = 2250 cm3 ; height of the liquid
The procedure is summarized in the following steps: H = 15.24 cm, the instantaneous shapes and bubble growth
curves and chamber pressure fluctuation are shown in
(i) Initialize all variables. Fig. 4. The bubble shapes obtained by the present model
(ii) Increment time by
t. are shown in Fig. 4(a), which agree approximately with the
(iii) The field equation (1) is solved using boundary-integral experimental shapes shown in Fig. 4(b) obtained from the
method. Using the Green’s formula approach the nor- original photographs in Kupferberg and Jameson (1969).
mal velocity is found directly by solving Eq. (22) Fig. 4(c) compares the simulated bubble growth curve and
numerically. The tangential velocity is solved by cubic chamber pressure fluctuation with the experimental data.
spline interpolation. For the CO2 –water system of LaNauze and Harris (1974)
(iv) Use the velocities found in (iii) to update position of at elevated pressure with following experimental conditions:
the surfaces. gas flow rate Q = 10 cm3 /s; the radius of the orifice Ro =
(v) Use the dynamic condition, Eq. (34), to update the sur- 0.16 cm; chamber volume Vc = 375 cm3 ; height of the liquid
face potentials. H = 10 cm; system pressure P∞ = 0.69 MN/m2 , the instan-
(vi) Go back to (ii) and repeat until detachment happens. taneous shapes and bubble volume are shown in Fig. 5. The
bubble shapes obtained by the present model are shown in
Fig. 5(a). Fig. 5(b) compares the simulated bubble growth
curves with the experimental data.
3. Improvements over Hooper’s (1986) model LaNauze and Harris (1974) reported that they observed
“double bubbling” under these conditions. The experimen-
The proposed model is generally based on Hooper’s tal growth curve in Fig. 5(b) shows two distinct periods
(1986) approach to modeling bubble formation using the of growth. This phenomenon can be attributed to the wake
boundary-integral method. However, we have made several effect of preceding bubbles (Zhang and Tan, 2000). Our
significant improvements and developments in our model. present model does not account for the wake effect, since
Firstly, the selection of dimensionless numbers represent- the liquid is assumed to be quiescent initially. Nevertheless,
ing the physical and dimensional parameters allows the nat- the predicted final bubble volume at detachment agrees well
ural and a priori formulation of the dimensionless equation with the experimental data, as shown in Fig. 5(b).
of motion (Eq. (34)), instead of relying on the questionable Surface tension is one of the contributing factors influ-
iterative method to define length and time scales proposed encing the bubble volume. To verify the effect of surface
by Hooper (1986). tension, data are collected for liquids of different surface
Secondly, Hooper (1986) does not explicitly account for tensions, water ( = 72.7 dyn/cm) and petroleum ether
the curvature of the bubble surface in relating Pl to Pb . In- ( = 27.1 dyn/cm), using the same orifice (Ro = 0.2 cm) by
stead, it was merely stated that due to numerical instabilities, Davidson and Schüler (1960). Fig. 6 shows the variation
the surface tension number was always set to zero, thereby of bubble volume at detachment with gas flow rate for dif-
ignoring the effect of  altogether and rendering Pl equal to ferent liquids (Davidson and Schüler, 1960, as reported by
Pb in all the solutions. Ramakrishnan et al., 1969) and the calculated results are
Thirdly, the use of a realistic boundary condition (Eq. compared with the experimental data. It can been seen that
(31)) at the point where the bubble surface meets the orifice at lower gas flow rates, surface tension has little effect on
plate allows us to relate the bubble shape to the dynamic the bubble volume, while at higher flow rates, the lowering
three-phase (i.e. gas–liquid–solid) contact angle, , instead
of the arbitrary shape criterion introduced in Hooper’s (1986)
work.
Furthermore, several material errors in the theoretical de-
velopment of the earlier model (see Eqs. (31), (A3a), (A4a),
of surface tension produces smaller bubbles. It can be noted
that our model predictions match the experimental trends
closely.
These figures indicate that the results computed by present
model are in good agreement with the experimental data.
 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186 185

1.8 1
0.9 t=37.5ms
1.6 t=30ms
0.8
t=49.5ms
1.4 0.7
t=20ms
t=40ms 0.6

z (cm)
1.2
0.5
t=30ms t=10ms
z (cm)

1 0.4
0.3 t=5ms
0.8 t=20ms
0.2 t=0
0.6 0.1
t=10ms
0.4 t=5ms (a) -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
r (cm)
0.2 t=0

Experimental volume Model Prediction

0
-1 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0.5
(a)
r (cm)
0.4
1.8

Bubble volume (cm3)

1.6 0.3
t=55ms (detachment)
1.4
t=50ms
0.2
1.2
t=40ms
1.0
z (cm)

0.1
t=30ms
0.8
t=20ms 0.0
0.6 0 10 20 30 40
t=10ms (b) Time (ms)
0.4
t=5ms
t=0 Fig. 5. (a) Computed sequence of bubble shapes during formation from
0.2
LaNauze and Harris (1974). (b) Bubble growth curve from LaNauze and
0.0 Harris (1974).
-1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
(b)
r (cm)
2.0
Experimental Volume Experimental Pressure Model Predictions
Gas/Liquid σ Ro Exp. Cal.
2.5
(dyn/cm) (cm)
100 Air/Water 72.7 0.20
Air/Petroleum 27.1 0.20
2.0 1.5
Bubble Volume Vb (cm )

Ether
3
Bubble volume (cm3)

80
Pc -Po (N/m )
2

1.5
60
1.0
1.0
40

20 0.5
0.5

0 0.0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
(c) Time (ms)
0.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Fig. 4. (a) Computed sequence of bubble shapes during formation from Volume Flow Rate Q (cm3/s)
Kupferberg and Jameson (1969). (b) Approximate experimental shapes
from Kupferberg and Jameson (1969). (c) Bubble growth curve and Fig. 6. Effect of surface tension on bubble size in inviscid liquid from
chamber pressure fluctuation from Kupferberg and Jameson (1969). Davidson and Schüler (1960).
186 Z. Xiao, R.B.H. Tan / Chemical Engineering Science 60 (2005) 179 – 186

5. Conclusion g gas phase

l liquid phase
An improved theoretical model with boundary-integral r direction of r coordinate
method has been developed which predicts bubble forma- z direction of z coordinate
tion from a single submerged orifice. The model predicts
the instantaneous bubble shape, detachment time and liquid
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b bubble
c gas chamber