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Microbubbles: Properties, Mechanisms of Their Generation

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Particles in Flows

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematical Fluid Mechanics ((AMFM))

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Abstract

This chapter discusses microbubbles—small gas bubbles in liquid medium of diameter less than 1 mm. Although they were known to offer a number of advantages, until recently they could be generated only by methods energetically inefficient. New horizons became open by the discovery of generation by aerators provided with an oscillator in their gas supply. Chapter provides in particular an information about no-moving-part fluidic oscillators, recently already almost forgotten but now demonstrated to offer benefits like low manufacturing cost, reliability, long life and absence of maintenance. The empirical fact that small bubbles cannot be obtained simply by making small passages in the aerator is here explained by conjunction of several microbubbles. Because the velocity of bubble motion decreases with decreasing size, small microbubbles tend to dwell near the aerator exits. They then coalesce there into a much larger single bubble (the effect promoted by the latter possessing lower surface energy). The fact that the oscillator prevents this conjunction and thus keeps the microbubbles small has been explained by high-speed camera images which show the effect of oscillatory motions.

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Acknowledgements

Author’s work was supported by research grant No. 13-23046S by GAČR as well as also institutional support RVO:61388998.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Thermomechanics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolejškova 1402/5, 18200, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    V. Tesař

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  1. V. Tesař
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Correspondence to V. Tesař .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Technical Mathematics, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Bodnár

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Giovanni P. Galdi

  3. Institute of Mathematics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic

    Šárka Nečasová

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Tesař, V. (2017). Microbubbles: Properties, Mechanisms of Their Generation. In: Bodnár, T., Galdi, G., Nečasová, Š. (eds) Particles in Flows. Advances in Mathematical Fluid Mechanics. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60282-0_8

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