Unsteady Mass Transfer in Bubble Wakes Analyzed by Lagrangian Coherent Structures in a Flat-Bed Reactor

To increase the yield and selectivity in reactive bubbly flows, the gas-liquid interactions have to be understood in depth. In the current fundamental study, flow and concentration data of the wakes of two-dimensional bubbles in an organic solvent are obtained experimentally in a flat-bed reactor. The unsteady mass transport phenomena in these turbulent wakes of two freely rising, two-dimensional bubbles with bubble Reynolds numbers Re=949 and Re=388 are evaluated by analyzing Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS). To reveal how LCS govern the transport of dissolved gas in bubble wakes, and therefore affect gas-liquid reactions, LCS in two-dimensional velocity fields are computed and compared with concentration fields of dissolved gas. The analysis of backward Finite Time Lyapunov Exponent (bFTLE) fields reveals coherent fluid dynamic structures for both bubble Reynolds numbers studied. In the higher bubble Reynolds number case, two types of coherent structures are found, which hinder the mixing of the dissolved gas and the liquid bulk. Repelling LCS are found to enclose parcels transported into the vortices, and indicate thus, which fluid parcels can possibly take part in chemical reactions. Due to higher mixing, unveiled by details from the LCS and FTLE analyses, and therefore increased contact area between dissolved gas and fresh liquid, higher yields of reaction products are suggested for the lower bubble Reynolds number case in this two-dimensional study. This is contradicting the rule of thumb that mixing increases for higher bubble Reynolds numbers.