The effect of a containing cylindrical boundary on the velocity of a large gas bubble in a liquid

Abstract

The velocity of a large gas bubble rising along the axis of a cylindrical container filled with liquid, is derived to a first approximation from a simple flow model of the system. The resulting expressions involve ratios of certain infinite series, which are evaluated for a few cases, and the theory is then seen to agree with previously accepted results at its asymptotes. Experiments are performed which confirm the first approximation and which allow the theory to be recast as a semi-empirical theory relating bubble volume with velocity. In this form it agrees with the results of Uno & Kintner (1956), but indicates that the relation between volume and curvature which they employed was in error.