Numerical simulation of bubble size distribution of aluminum foams in liquid state
1. Department of Power Engineer, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China; 2. School of Energy and Environment Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Science & Technology, Baotou, Inner Mongolia 014010, China; 3. School of Aerospace, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Abstract:A mathematical model for predicting the evolution of bubble size distribution was presented, which took into account of the effects of both the coarsening due to gas diffusion between bubbles and the liquid drainage. A bubble size distribution equation and a one-dimensional drainage equation were solved coupled by a finite difference approach. Comparison with experimental results from the literature shows a reasonable agreement. The model predictions indicate that the bubble size increases exponentially with time which is in good agreement with MacPherson's theory. Further computational results reveal that bubble size distributions are dependent strongly on the drainage behavior, the Henry constant, gas diffusivity and surface tension of the aluminum foam in liquid state.