| Modeling gas-liquid bubble flow and the interfacial area concentration between the gas and the liquid are important in designing gas liquid contactors. In this research a general theoretical model for gas-liquid bubble flow to predict the gas velocity, liquid velocity, gas void fraction, liquid void fraction, and the interfacial area concentration between the gas and the liquid was derived. The derived model was applied to fully developed turbulent flow bubble columns and validated by comparing its prediction against experimental data. Good agreement between the calculated values and the experimental values was obtained.;It was found that, in a fully developed turbulent flow bubble column, the liquid and gas velocity profiles far from the wall are approximately flat. Close to the wall, the velocity profiles are very sharp. In general, the velocity profiles for the gas and the liquid are similar to the velocity profile of one fluid flow in a pipe.;The gas void fraction and the interfacial area concentration in a fully developed turbulent flow bubble column both have a peak (maximum value) close to the wall. The distribution of the gas void fraction in bubble column is mainly due to a force balance between the lift force and the wall force. The lift force pushes the bubbles toward the wall and the wall force pushes the bubbles away from the wall. Because far from the wall the wall force is negligible, the lift force moves the bubbles toward the wall and when the bubbles get close to the wall, the wall force becomes larger and prevents the bubbles from touching the wall. Therefore, the force balance between the lift force and the wall force results in accumulation of the bubbles in the region near the wall. |
