Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594

The mixing of liquids by a plume of low-Reynolds number bubbles

M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso*
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3RA, UK
Received 23 March 1999; accepted 18 October 1999

Abstract

When bubbles are continuously released from a localised source at the bottom of a liquid layer, a plume is produced. As the bubble
plume rises due to its buoyancy, it entrains surrounding liquid, which is carried upward with the stream of bubbles. In the present
work, we investigate the motion of a plume of low-Reynolds number bubbles in a strati"ed liquid consisting of two homogeneous
layers of di!erent densities. The liquid environment is of "nite lateral extent. We develop a theoretical model for the #ow of the bubble
plume and the surrounding liquid. The full equations are solved numerically. The mixing at the interface is quanti"ed and the
time-evolution of the density pro"les in both layers is calculated. The model also predicts the rate of rise of the density interface. We
develop an analytical solution for the problem in the limit of strong strati"cations. Our theoretical predictions are compared with new
experimental results using plumes of small bubbles generated by electrolysis of an aqueous solution of sodium chloride and with
previous experimental results (McDougall (1978), Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 85, 655}672; Baines & Leitch (1992), Journal of Hydraulic
Engineering, 118(4), 559}577).  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Bubble-plume; Strati"cation; Mixing; Two-phase #ow

1. Introduction ceutical and food products, in the mixing of very hot or

Buoyant plumes produced by a source of bubbles in
a liquid medium are used for a variety of purposes.
Bubble breakwaters operate because of the surface jet
produced by the bubble plume (Taylor, 1955). Oil slicks
on water surfaces can be contained by bubble plumes
(Jones, 1972). Bubble plumes have also been used to
prevent parts of the surface of a river or lake from
freezing (Baines, 1961). During an underwater oil-well
blow-out, a plume of bubbles, oil droplets and sea water
develops; the extent of the damage to marine life depends
on whether all the oil rises to the surface or spreads out
horizontally at some intermediate depth (McDougall,
1978).
In industry, bubble plumes are used with two objec-
tives: enhancing mass transfer and mixing. As a mixing
technique, the use of bubbles is attractive because it is
very simple and cheap to operate. The most common
applications of bubble-driven mixing are encountered in
wastewater treatment, in the delicate mixing of pharma-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: #1223-331863; fax: #1223-334796.
E-mail address: silvana}cardoso@cheng.cam.ac.uk (S. S. S. Cardoso).
toxic liquids (Leitch & Baines, 1989) and in the destrati"-
cation of lakes and reservoirs (Schladow, 1992; Wuest,
Brooks & Imboden, 1992).
Over the last 20 years, there has been considerable
research on the structure of bubble plumes and their
interaction with the surrounding liquid environment. La-
boratory and "eld observations have led to the develop-
ment of two types of models of bubble plumes
(McDougall, 1978; Leitch & Baines, 1989). The simpler
approach considers the plume to behave as a one-phase
buoyant plume. It assumes that the bubbles producing
the buoyancy for motion are evenly dispersed within the
liquid in the plume and behave passively (Fig. 1a). The
more elaborate modelling regards the bubble plume as
being composed of two parts: an inner circular plume
containing all the bubbles and an outer annular plume
containing only liquid (Fig. 1b). The buoyancy is concen-
trated within the central region and momentum is im-
parted to the surrounding liquid via turbulent shear
stresses. However, given a speci"c problem, it is not
clear from the previous literature (Wilkinson, 1979;
McDougall, 1978; Lemkert & Imberger, 1993) whether
one can use the simple model or needs to recur to the
more complex double-core model.

0009-2509/00/$ - see front matter  2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 0 9 - 2 5 0 9 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 5 3 1 - X
2586 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594

Nomenclature u slip velocity of a bubble

@
= scale for the velocity in the plume
a e!ective radius of plume w vertical velocity at the plume axis
A cross-sectional area of the tank z height above point source
B buoyancy #ow rate in the plume at source, at

z"0 Greek letters
d bubble diameter
@
Eo EoK tvoK s number of bubble a entrainment coe$cient, taken to be
@
f e$ciency of the conversion of the kinetic en- constant and equal to 0.09
ergy of the plume at the interface into potential D buoyancy of the plume evaluated at the plume
energy of the lower layer axis
g gravitational acceleration Dl buoyancy in the lower layer
hl height of the lower layer Dl initial buoyancy in the lower layer
hl initial height of the lower layer D buoyancy in the upper layer

h  initial height of the upper layer D  initial buoyancy in the upper layer
 
M momentum #ow rate in the plume at the k viscosity of the liquid

source, at z"0 o liquid density as a function of depth z
Q volumetric #ow rate in the plume at the source, o density of the bubble layer just above interface
 @J
at z"0 ol density of the lower layer
R equivalent radius of the tank ol initial density of the lower layer, at t"0
Ra critical Rayleigh number, taken as approxim- o density of the upper layer
A 
ately 10 o  initial density of the upper layer, at t"0

Re Reynolds number of the bubble
@
Ri Richardson number Subscripts
Ri initial Richardson number of the two-layer

strati"cation 0 initial state
t arbitrary time b bubble
; uniform downward velocity of the environ- l lower layer
mental liquid in the lower layer up upper layer

Finite size bubbles exhibit a slip velocity relative to the
liquid rising in the plume and this leads to the formation
of a bubble-rich core surrounded by bubble-depleted
rising liquid. The e!ect of this slip velocity will be greater
for weak plumes i.e. for small volumetric #ow rates of gas.
A quantitative criterion determining the structure of
a bubble plume may be obtained by comparing a scale
for the velocity in the plume = with the slip velocity of
individual bubbles u . Dimensional arguments suggest
@
most studies have concentrated on these double-struc-
ture plumes. However, for at least some of the larger-
scale plumes found in industrial processes, the bubbles
are distributed widely across the plume. It is therefore of
interest to study plumes of very small bubbles in the
laboratory.
Large bubbles possess wakes where liquid from deeper
levels in the environment may be carried and then de-
trained at shallower levels. This is a relatively e!ective
transport mechanism. However, the work of Milgram


ol !o Q g 

= ol hl
& ,
u u
@ @
where ol is the density of the liquid, o is the density of the
gas bubbles, Q is the volumetric #ow rate of gas at

the source, g is the acceleration of gravity and hl is the
typical vertical length scale of the plume. In small-scale
experiments performed in the laboratory, the #ow rates
are smaller than those found in industrial and natural
bubble plumes, whilst the bubble sizes remain approxim-
ately the same, and hence =/u is typically smaller. This
@
explains why most laboratory observations hitherto have
revealed a double-structure plume. As a consequence,
(1983) suggests that mixing induced by small bubbles
should be more e$cient than that by large bubbles.
(1) Indeed, a plume of small bubbles entrains a larger
quantity of surrounding liquid and this e!ect dominates
over the wake transport mechanism exhibited by large
bubbles. Nevertheless, very little is known about the
dynamics of plumes of low-Reynolds number bubbles,
whose ascent speed is very small compared to the convec-
tive velocities. It is therefore relevant to investigate the
mechanism by which such small bubbles drive mixing in
a liquid and to assess its industrial potential. Some in-
sight into the behaviour of plumes of small bubbles may
be gained from previous studies of one-phase buoyant
plumes (Morton, Taylor & Turner, 1956; Cardoso &
 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594 2587

Woods, 1993), but there are some fundamental di!er-
ences, including bubble separation in strati"ed liquids
and the formation of sequences of bubble plumes in the
liquid layer. In the present work, we present new experi-
mental results using bubbles of approximately 150 lm
diameter generated by electrolysis; these bubbles are at
least one order of magnitude smaller than bubbles used
by previous researchers (see Table 1).
A bubble plume rising in a density-strati"ed environ-
ment will transport dense liquid upward from the deeper
regions for some distance; a fraction of this liquid then
leaves the plume and spreads out horizontally at its own
density level. In an environment of "nite lateral extent,
the plume induces downward advection of the surround-
ing liquid, and hence the density distribution in the
environment evolves with time. The continuing plume,
rising through the changing strati"cation, will in turn
transport liquid to varying depths. This interaction be-
tween the plume and the environment has been modelled
numerically by Patterson and Imberger (1989), Leitch
and Baines (1989) and Schladow (1992). The e!ectiveness
of bubble-driven mixing in such complex systems has
been measured by the e$ciency of conversion of the
input bubble energy into potential energy of the strati"-
cation. The bubble energy at the source is measured by
the work required to produce the air #ow via a compres-
sor. Although peak e$ciencies of up to 15% have been
achieved for certain design and operating con"gurations
(Asaeda & Imberger, 1993; Schladow, 1992), the e$cien-
cy generally decreases with time as the strati"cation
weakens, and the average e$ciency of the complete mix-
ing process can be as low as 3}5%. However, comparison
with e$ciencies of mixing by one-phase plumes suggests
that there is scope for improvement of bubble plume
e$ciencies up to approximately 15% (Zilitinkevitch,
1991; Cardoso & Woods, 1993). In this paper, we discuss
how the e$ciency of mixing of a plume is a!ected by the
bubble size.
In the following sections, we develop a novel approach
to the modelling of the dynamics and mixing induced by
a bubble plume, appropriate in the limit of small bubbles.
We focus on the mixing driven by a continuous release
of bubbles in a strati"cation consisting of two layers of
liquids of di!erent densities. The liquid environment is of
"nite lateral extent. We calculate the evolution of the
density pro"le in both layers. Our theoretical predictions
are validated by comparison with both new and previous
experimental observations.

2. Experimental procedure and qualitative observations

2.1. Experimental procedure

Fig. 1. Structure of a bubble plume rising in a homogeneous #uid: (a) The experiments were carried out in two Perspex
simple plume when =/u 1 and (b) double-core plume when =/u 1. tanks, tank A of square cross section 0.2 m;0.2 m and
@ @

Table 1
Comparison of the size and structure of the bubbles used in the present work and in previous studies

Experiment d (m) u (m/s) Re Eo Bubble shape Volume of wake (m) =/u

@ @ @ @ @
McDougall (1978) 1.25;10\ 0.258 252 0.222 Spherical 1.90;10\ 0.6
Leitch and Baines (1989) 3.20;10\ 0.203 630 1.40 Ellipsoidal +9.80;10\ 0.4
and
Baines and Leitch (1992) 4.20;10\ 0.224 1100 4.40 Ellipsoidal '9.80;10\ 0.6
Present work 1.50;10\ 0.0115 1.61 3.08;10\ Spherical 0.0 4.1

The bubble shape and the volume of the wake were obtained from Clift, Grace & Weber (1978).
2588 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594

height 0.4 m and a larger tank, tank B, of 0.4 m;0.4 m
and height 0.6 m. A two-layer strati"cation was set up
with a lower layer of NaCl aqueous solution and a top
layer of fresh water; the two layers were separated by
a sharp interface with approximately 0.5 cm thickness.
The top layer was coloured with food dye to enhance the
visibility of the interface. A photograph of the experi-
mental system is shown in Fig. 2.
Bubbles were generated at the bottom of the tank via
electrolysis of the NaCl solution. The electrodes consis-
ted of a mesh of "ne platinum wires (Fig. 3), with area
1.5 cm;1.5 cm, connected to a d.c. power supply. Bub-
bles of hydrogen were released at the cathode and of
chlorine at the anode (Creighton & Koehler, 1944). The
electrodes were vibrated magnetically to avoid coales-
cence of bubbles and hence ensure the detachment of

Fig. 2. Photograph of experimental set-up illustrating the structure of a plume of small bubbles in a two-layer strati"cation. White arrows indicate the
#ow of liquid.

Fig. 3. Electrodes of platinum used to generate bubbles of hydrogen at the cathode and chlorine at the anode.
 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594
uniformly sized bubbles. The size of the bubbles was
determined in both layers using a laser analyser. The
bubble size distribution was found to be independent of
height in the tank and approximately Gaussian. An aver-
age size of 150$50 lm was measured (Chen, 1998). Such
a constant bubble size with height, indicates a low coales-
cence tendency, which is characteristic of bubbles in
concentrated salt solutions (Soo, 1967). Although small
bubbles do tend to coalesce in fresh water, our laboratory
observations and bubble size measurements suggest that
coalescence was also negligible in the upper layer. We
believe that the thin "lm of NaCl solution surrounding
the bubbles moving into the upper layer hindered coales-
cence.
Calibration of the #ow rate of gas generated versus the
intensity of the current was performed directly by sealing
the top of the tank and measuring the gas #ow rate with
a bubble soap meter. Although chlorine is relatively
soluble in water, our #ow rate measurements indicate
a constant #ow rate for a given current intensity. This
may be a consequence of either the mass of dissolved
chlorine being negligible compared to the total gas gener-
ated or of saturation being achieved very fast. Neverthe-
less, since we have measured directly the #ow rate of gas
generated, the dissolution of chlorine does not a!ect our
experimental results.
The position of the interface and the motion in the
lower layer were monitored visually. The density distri-
bution in the tank was determined by withdrawing small
samples of the liquid at di!erent levels with a syringe. The
density was measured by refractometry. The experi-
mental conditions for each run are summarised in Table 2.
2.2. Qualitative observations
The typical #ow pattern induced by a bubble plume
rising in a strati"ed liquid consisting of two homogene-
ous layers of di!erent densities is shown in Fig. 4. The
lower and upper-layer #uids have both been dyed for
visualisation. As the bubble plume rises across the den-
sity interface, its buoyancy decreases. As a result, a frac-
tion of the dense, lower layer liquid carried in the plume
is detrained above the interface, where the momentum of
Table 2
The experimental conditions. Labels A and B refer to tank used (See Section 2.1)
Experiment Q (m/s) D  (m/s)
 
1 A 7.1;10\ !0.151
2 A 5.7;10\ !0.230
3 A 5.7;10\ !0.267
4 A 7.1;10\ !0.366
5 A 4.2;10\ !0.256
6 A 7.1;10\ !0.423
7 B 7.1;10\ !0.151
2589
the liquid reaches zero; the detrained dense liquid mixes
with upper layer #uid and then spreads radially, forming
a gravity current of intermediate density. The bubbles
continue to rise through the upper layer, forming a new
bubble plume. The surrounding less dense liquid in the
upper layer is entrained and mixes with the residual
dense liquid in the plume. The mixture of the two liquids
is carried to the free surface where the bubbles burst and
a liquid current spreads radially. As the tank is of "nite
lateral extent, the continual entrainment of surrounding
ambient #uid into the plume leads to a downward #ow in
the environment. Hence, a front of liquid, which has been
in the plume in each layer, descends with time; this can be
seen in the sequence of photographs in Fig. 4 as the liquid
circulated through the plume becomes discoloured. The
liquid above the front in the lower layer is less dense than
the original liquid below due to the entrainment of less
dense upper layer liquid at the interface. Therefore, the
plume will arrive at the interface even lighter. As time
evolves, a stable density distribution develops, gradually
"lling up the original lower layer. In the upper layer,
the liquid detrained at the free surface is denser than
the original upper layer liquid. It may therefore drive
buoyant convection and mixing in the upper layer.
Our measurements of the evolution of the density
pro"le in the tank for a typical experiment are shown in
Fig. 5. These results suggest that very little lower layer
liquid is carried into the upper layer by the rising bub-
bles. This observation may be explained partially by the
fact that small bubbles of diameter 150 lm do not have
wakes, as shown in Table 1, and hence are unable to trap
and carry lower layer liquid upward. In addition, the
buoyancy force associated with the bubbles moving
across the interface is relatively large compared to the
viscous force that can drag lower layer liquid into the
upper layer. Therefore, the contribution of viscous en-
trainment of lower layer liquid to the #ow rate and
density of the plume in the upper layer is small. We
conclude then that the dominant mixing mechanism
at the interface is associated with the overshoot and
collapse of the dense liquid transported in the plume. In
Section 3, we present a theoretical model that builds
upon these experimental observations.
hl (m) h  (m) B (m/s) Ri
S  
0.131 0.152 6.95;10\ 0.9
0.130 0.157 5.55;10\ 1.6
0.132 0.156 5.55;10\ 2.0
0.138 0.152 6.95;10\ 2.5
0.143 0.150 4.14;10\ 2.6
0.137 0.149 6.95;10\ 2.8
0.269 0.289 6.95;10\ 3.1
 2590
M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594

Fig. 4. Sequence of photographs showing the evolution of the mixing induced by a bubble plume in a two-layer density strati"cation.
 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594
Fig. 5. Evolution of the density pro"le with time for Ri "2.5. Data

points have been interpolated to aid visualisation.
3. Theory
3.1. Full model
In the light of our experimental observations, we shall
assume that the upper layer remains uniform, with den-
sity equal to that at the beginning of the experiment. The
mixing in the lower layer is modelled in detail by looking
at both the motion in the plume and in the surrounding
environment.
Consider a plume rising in the lower layer of a step
strati"cation. The cross-sectional area of the region is
A"pR, where R is an equivalent radius. We assume
that the depth of the lower layer is initially hl . Owing to
 "!;
the continuous variation of the ambient properties de-
scribed above, the behaviour of the plume is time-depen-
dent. However, if the aspect ratio R/hl is large, for all
times, then the time rates of change of the plume proper-
ties can be shown to be su$ciently small to be neglected
in the relevant conservation equations (Manins, 1979).
The plume is then of small radius compared to R, and the
ambient behaves quasi-steadily as far as the plume is
concerned.
Using the Boussinesq approximation and assuming
a constant coe$cient of entrainment, conservation of
volume, momentum and buoyancy for the plume are
expressed by the following equations, respectively:
d naw"Q ,
(aw)"2aaw,
dz


d 1
aw "aD,
dz 2


d 1 *Dl
awD "aw . (4)
dz 2 *z
2591
Here, z denotes the vertical co-ordinate, increasing up-
ward, with its origin at the source; a is the e!ective radius
of the plume; w is the vertical velocity at the plume axis;
a is the entrainment coe$cient; and D and Dl are, respec-
tively, the buoyancy of the plume evaluated on the plume
axis and the buoyancy of the liquid surrounding the
plume in the lower layer, de"ned by
g(ol !o)
D" , (5)
ol
g(ol !ol )
Dl " , (6)
ol
where, ol is the density of the lower layer and g is the
acceleration due to gravity. We have taken the reference
density to be equal to the initial density of the lower
layer, ol . Gaussian pro"les of equal width have been

assumed for the vertical velocity and buoyancy distribu-
tions in the plume. Eqs. (2)}(4) were originally derived by
Morton et al. (1956) and have been discussed in detail
elsewhere (e.g. Turner, 1979).
The entrainment into the plume causes the environ-
mental liquid outside the plume to move downward. We
shall assume that the density di!erence between the
liquid mixture spreading at the interface and the lower
layer liquid just beneath it is su$ciently large so that this
downward motion is approximately described by a uni-
form velocity ;. Continuity may then be written as
!nR;"naw, (7)
where it has been assumed that Ra. The buoyancy
"eld in the lower layer is governed by
*Dl *Dl
. (8)
*t *z
Molecular di!usion and mixing have been neglected
here.
The initial and boundary conditions for the governing
equations are as follows. The initial condition is that the
strati"cation consists of two uniform layers. Hence,
g(o !ol )
Dl "0, D "  at t"0, (9)
 ol 
where o  is the initial density of the upper layer.

The boundary conditions specify the #ow rates of
volume, momentum and buoyancy at the source
(10a)
(2) 
 naw"M at z"0, (10b)
 
(3)  nawD"B . (10c)
 
We require one more continuity condition, quantifying
the rate of entrainment of the upper layer liquid at the
interface. We shall assume that a constant fraction f of
2592 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594

the kinetic energy of the plume at the interface is con-
verted into potential energy of the lower layer. This
energetic conversion is expressed by (Cardoso & Woods,
1993)
dhl f B
(Dl !D ) " .
 dt A with height. This is followed by the main stage
This equation is equivalent to an entrainment law of the
type (1/w) dhl /dtJRi\, where Ri is the Richardson
number of the strati"cation, de"ned by
(Dl !D )hl
Ri"  .
w
Cardoso and Woods (1993) have shown that such a mix-
ing law is valid for 0.2(Ri(3. The e$ciency of this
energetic conversion, f, has been found to lie in the range
0.2}0.3 in penetrative convection studies (Zilitinkevich,
1991).
Eqs. (2)}(4) and (7)}(9), (10a)}(10c) and (11) were solved
numerically using f"0.3; the theoretical results are com-
pared with the experimental measurements in the next
section.
3.2. A simplixed model for strong stratixcations
For strong strati"cations, the rate of rise of the inter-
face is very much smaller than the rate at which the
environmental #uid is circulated through the plume. We
may therefore assume that after the descending front
reaches the bottom of the tank, the environment sur-
rounding the plume is approximately homogeneous. In
this limit, the full model equations may be simpli"ed to
an equation for the conservation of buoyancy in the
lower layer,
d bubbles is more e$cient at transporting lower layer
[hl (Dl !D )]"0
dt 
4. Results and discussion
Fig. 5 illustrates a typical evolution of the density
pro"le with time. Several stages may be identi"ed: in the
"rst stage (t"0}10 mins), the lower layer becomes strat-
(11) i"ed, evolving into a region where the density increases
(t"10}110 mins) where the density di!erence between
the upper and the lower layer is reduced and a homo-
geneous density is eventually recorded at t"120 min.
The homogenisation of the solution occurs soon after the
interface disappears, normally in the space of 1}2 min as
(12) recorded in nearly all the experiments. It can be seen
from the graph that the density in the upper layer has
undergone only minor changes until the last stage. It can
therefore be concluded that the homogenisation of the
solution is mainly due to the increase of the depth of the
lower layer and that only a very small amount of liquid
from the lower layer is carried across the interface by the
bubbles. No strati"cation prevails in the lower layer soon
after the "rst stage, showing that the plume drives good
circulation in the "nite size tank.
Our theoretical predictions for the evolution of the
density pro"le have been plotted as solid lines in Fig. 6.
The agreement between the model predictions and the
experimental results is good for the lower layer. For large
times, a small inversion in the density is observed at the
top of the upper layer. The model does not capture this
small e!ect as expected.
Fig. 7 shows the evolution of the density pro"le in an
experiment by Baines and Leitch (1992). The pro"les
predicted by our new theoretical model, valid for small
Reynolds number bubbles, are also shown. The di!erence
between the model and experimental results suggests that
a plume of small bubbles is more e$cient at destratifying
the lower regions of the tank, whilst a plume of large
(13)

with boundary condition

d fB
hl (Dl !D )"!  . (14)
dt  A

The analytical solution of Eqs. (13) and (14) gives the

rate of rise of the interface

 
fB t
hl "hl exp  (15)
Ahl (Dl !D  )

and the evolution of the density in the lower layer

 
!f B t
(Dl !D )"(Dl !D  ) exp  . (16)
  Ahl (Dl !D )

Fig. 6. Evolution of the density pro"le: theoretical predictions (solid
Eqs. (15) and (16) are valid for large Richardson number lines) and experimental results for an initial Richardson number,
strati"cations, that is for Ri1. Ri "2.5.

 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594 2593

Fig. 8. Non-dimensional position of the descending front as a function

Fig. 7. Evolution of the density pro"le: comparison between our theor- of time. The solid lines are theoretical predictions for an entrainment
etical predictions for a plume of small bubbles (solid lines) and the constant a"0.09.
experimental data of Baines and Leitch (1992) for a plume of large
bubbles; Ri "0.8.


liquid into the upper layer and thereby increasing the

density at the higher levels in the tank. These observa-
tions may be explained by comparing the rate of descent
of the density front in the lower layer for mixing driven
by a plume of small bubbles with that observed for large
bubbles. Such a comparison is made in Fig. 8. Our model
predictions are in excellent agreement with our experi-
mental results for plumes of small bubbles. However, for
plumes of larger bubbles (Baines & Leitch, 1992), our
model overpredicts the rate of descent of the front. This
di!erence is related to the "nite slip velocity of the larger
bubbles. We may conclude that a plume of small bubbles
entrains more surrounding liquid, leading to a large
re-circulation #owrate of liquid through the plume.
A plume of large bubbles exhibits a smaller entrainment
capacity, but is able to transport lower layer liquid in the Fig. 9. Non-dimensional position of the interface as a function of time:
individual bubble-wakes into the upper layer. theoretical predictions (solid lines) and experimental results.
The results of the numerical integration for the posi-
tion of the interface as a function of time are shown
graphically in Fig. 9. Experimental data have also been
plotted. It is seen that the agreement is good for a range
of strati"cations and plume buoyancy #uxes.
In Fig. 10, we compare the predictions of the full model
with those of the simpli"ed model valid for strong strat-
i"cations. It is shown that the simple analytical model
given by Eqs. (15) and (16) estimates the position of the
interface very well for strong strati"cations, i.e. Ri *1.

As mentioned in Section 3, we have assumed in our
theoretical predictions that the parameter f is constant
and equal to 0.3. The good agreement between our ex-
perimental results and the theory suggests then that 30%
of the kinetic energy of the plume at the interface is
converted into potential energy of the lower layer, as
less dense #uid is transported down into the layer of Fig. 10. Non-dimensional position of the interface versus time: com-
dense #uid against the restoring buoyancy force. Such parison between the predictions of the full and approximate models.
2594 M. H. Chen, S. S. S. Cardoso / Chemical Engineering Science 55 (2000) 2585}2594
conversion is well within the range reported in penetra-
tive convection studies (Zilitinkevich, 1991). Energy
losses are due to viscous dissipation and internal wave
radiation. From an engineering point of view, it is impor-
tant to know how much of the power supplied in the gas
stream is converted into potential energy of the density
distribution. As the kinetic energy of the plume at the
interface is equal to approximately half of the energy of
the bubbles at the source (Cardoso & Woods, 1993), we
may conclude that the e$ciency of conversion of the
bubble energy at the source into potential energy is
f /2+15%.
5. Conclusions
We have presented a new experimental and theoretical
study on the mixing induced by a plume of small bubbles
in a two-layer density strati"cation. Our new experi-
mental results show that very little dense liquid from
the lower layer is transported across the interface by the
rising bubbles. The density in the upper layer therefore
remains constant and equal to that at the beginning of
the mixing process. As a result, the mixing in the two-
layer system consists of turbulent entrainment of the
liquid in the upper layer by the plume liquid detrained at
the interface, and the re-circulation of environmental
liquid in the lower layer through the plume.
A detailed numerical model has been developed. The
model predicts the position of the interface as a function
of time and the evolution of the density pro"le in the
two-layer system. The agreement between our model
predictions and experimental results is excellent.
We have also shown, that in the limit of strong strati"-
cations, the density pro"le in the lower layer remains
approximately uniform. We have developed a simple
analytical solution for the evolution of the interface posi-
tion and the density di!erence across the interface. We
have shown that this simpli"ed approach is valid for
Ri *1.
 tational convection from maintained and instantaneous sources.
Our study has also shown that a plume of small
Reynolds number bubbles is e$cient at destratifying
the lower regions of the tank, whilst a plume of large
bubbles is more e$cient at transporting lower layer
liquid into the upper layer and thereby increasing the
density at the higher levels in the tank. The overall
e$ciency of conversion of the energy released at the
source of bubbles into potential energy is approximately
15% for the plume of small bubbles used in our work.
This is signi"cantly larger than the average e$ciency of
mixing of a plume of large bubbles, which has been found
by previous authors to be of order of 3}9% (Schladow,
1992).
There are some di$culties associated with the use of
very small bubbles in industry. In particular, electrolysis
cannot be competitively used to produce small bubbles
on a large scale application, but alternative methods
involving saturation of the liquid with a gas at high
pressure followed by decompression can be explored.
Also, in non-aqueous systems, small bubbles may absorb
a signi"cant amount of vapour from the process liquid,
and thus further recovery may be required. However, we
note that as long as the criterion =/u 1 is satis"ed, the
@
plume will exhibit a structure similar to a plume of low-
Reynolds number bubbles. We conclude that, from the
view point of energy e$ciency and absence of mechanical
moving parts, plumes of small bubbles have important
engineering potential as a mixing technique.
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