Numerical simulation of mass transfer for bubbles in water

This paper presents results for the effect of surfactants on the dissolutio n rate of bubbles. Most of the results to be presented are for carbon dioxi de bubbles. However, a few results will be presented for ethane and helium bubbles. Surfactants have a strong effect on bubble motion. As the dissolut ion process of bubbles is predominantly convective in nature, the mass tran sfer is also influenced by surfactant adsorbed onto the bubble interface. Two techniques are used to compute the dissolution rate of bubbles in the p resence of surfactants. One technique uses a finite difference method while the other uses a stochastic Lagrangian approach. The results of the comput ations are used to develop a correlation that relates the Sherwood number o f a bubble to its Reynolds number and size. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.