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Oscillation of the convective flow around an air bubble in a vertically stratified surfactant solution

Journal Article · · Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics

The appearance of oscillatory modes of the concentration convection around an air bubble in an aqueous solution with a vertical gradient of surfactant concentration was revealed experimentally. The solution filled a thin vertical layer containing an air bubble in the form of a short horizontal cylinder with a free lateral surface. Due to a small layer thickness, two-dimensional flows and concentration distributions were generated in the liquid. Their evolution was investigated using an interferometric technique. It was found that the flow oscillation was caused by a specific interaction between the diffusion and two solutal (capillary and gravitational) mechanisms of convective mass transfer, which had quite different characteristic times. The time variation of the oscillation period was analyzed in relation to the surfactant concentration gradient, the average solution concentration, and the concentration Marangoni number. It was shown that the ratio of the dimensionless oscillation frequency to the Marangoni number is time independent and is the same for different liquids and various orientations of the concentration gradient.

OSTI ID:
21067650
Journal Information:
Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 103; ISSN JTPHES; ISSN 1063-7761
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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