Numerical Simulation of the Buoyancy-Driven Bouncing of a 2-D Bubble at a Horizontal Wall

The rise of a buoyant bubble and its interaction with a target horizontal wall is simulated with a 2-D numerical code based on the Boundary Element Method (BEM). Developed from a viscous potential flow approximation, the BEM takes into account only the part of the energy dissipation related to the normal viscous stresses. Hence, a simple analytical model based on lubrication approximation is coupled to the BEM in order to compute the drainage of the interstitial liquid film filling the gap between the bubble and the near wall. In this way the bubble–wall interaction is fully computed: the approach stage, the bubble deformation stage and, depending on the values of the Reynolds number and the Weber number, the rebound and the bubble oscillations. From computation of both the bubble interface motion and the liquid velocity field, a physical analysis in terms of energy budget is proposed. Though, in the present study, the bubble under consideration is basically supposed to be a 2-D gaseous cylinder, a comparison between our numerical results and the experiments of Tsao and Koch (1997) enlightens interestingly the physics of bouncing.