Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T09:45:34.746Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bubbles emerging from a submerged granular bed

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2011

J. A. MEIER ,
J. S. JEWELL ,
C. E. BRENNEN  and
J. IMBERGER
J. A. MEIER
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
J. S. JEWELL
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
C. E. BRENNEN*
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
J. IMBERGER
Affiliation:
Centre for Water Resources, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
*
†Email address for correspondence: brennen@caltech.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper explores the phenomena associated with the emergence of gas bubbles from a submerged granular bed. While there are many natural and industrial applications, we focus on the particular circumstances and consequences associated with the emergence of methane bubbles from the beds of lakes and reservoirs since there are significant implications for the dynamics of lakes and reservoirs and for global warming. This paper describes an experimental study of the processes of bubble emergence from a granular bed. Two distinct emergence modes are identified, mode 1 being simply the percolation of small bubbles through the interstices of the bed, while mode 2 involves the cumulative growth of a larger bubble until its buoyancy overcomes the surface tension effects. We demonstrate the conditions dividing the two modes (primarily the grain size) and show that this accords with simple analytical evaluations. These observations are consistent with previous studies of the dynamics of bubbles within porous beds. The two emergence modes also induce quite different particle fluidization levels. The latter are measured and correlated with a diffusion model similar to that originally employed in river sedimentation models by Vanoni and others. Both the particle diffusivity and the particle flux at the surface of the granular bed are measured and compared with a simple analytical model. These mixing processes can be consider applicable not only to the grains themselves, but also to the nutrients and/or contaminants within the bed. In this respect they are shown to be much more powerful than other mixing processes (such as the turbulence in the benthic boundary layer) and could, therefore, play a dominant role in the dynamics of lakes and reservoirs.

JFM classification

Drops and Bubbles: Bubble dynamics Geophysical and Geological Flows: Geophysical and Geological Flows Granular media: Granular media
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 666 , 10 January 2011 , pp. 189 - 203
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Brennen, C. E. 1995 Cavitation and Bubble Dynamics. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brennen, C. E. 2005 Fundamentals of Multiphase Flow. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brooks, M. C., Wise, W. R. & Annable, M. D. 1999 Fundamental changes in in situ air sparging flow patterns. Ground Water Monit. Remediat. 19 (2), 105–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dean, W. E. & Gorham, E. 1998 Magnitude and significance of carbon burial in lakes, reservoirs, and peatlands. Geology 26, 535–538.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gostiaux, L., Gayvallet, H. & Géminard, J.-C. 2002 Dynamics of a gas bubble rising through a thin immersed layer of granular material: an experimental study. Granular Matter 4, 39–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hanson, R. S. & Hanson, T. E. 1996 Methanotrophic bacteria. Microbiol. Rev. 60 (2), 439–471.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hornafius, J. S., Quigley, D. & Luyendyk, B. P. 1999 The world's most spectacular marine hydrocarbon seeps (Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara Channel, California): quantification of emissions. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 20703–20711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houghton, R. A. 2007 Balancing the global carbon budget. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. 35, 313–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, W., Dahmani, A., Ahlfeld, D. P., Lin, J. D. & Hill, E. 1993 Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow visualization. Ground Water Monit. Remediat 14 (4), 115–126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leifer, I. & Culling, D. 2010 Formation of seep bubble plumes in the Coal Oil Point Seep field. Geo-Mar. Lett. 30, 339–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemckert, C., Antenucci, J., Saggio, A. & Imberger, J. 2004 Physical properties of turbulent benthic boundary layers generated by internal waves. ASCE J. Hydraul. Engng doi:10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9429(2004)130:1(58).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marti, C. L. & Imberger, J. 2006 Dynamics of the benthic boundary layer in a strongly forced stratified lake. Hydrobiologia 568, 217–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mau, S., Valentine, D. L., Clark, J. F., Reed, J., Camilli, R. & Washburn, L. 2007 Dissolved methane distributions and air sea flux in the plume of a massive seep field, Coal Oil Point, California. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L22603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, D. F., Greinert, J., Artemov, Y., Beaubien, S. E. & Wuest, A. 2006 Fate of rising methane bubbles in stratified waters: how much methane reaches the atmosphere? J. Geophys. Res. 111, C09007.Google Scholar
Nakayama, K. & Imberger, J. 2010 Residual circulation due to internal waves shoaling on a slope. J. Phys. Oceanogr. submitted.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ostrovsky, I., McGinnis, D. F., Lapidus, L. & Eckert, W. 2008 Quantifying gas ebullition with echosounder: the role of methane transport by bubbles in a medium-sized lake. Limnol. Oceanogr.: Methods 6, 105–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pokusaev, B. G., Kazenin, D. A. & Karlov, S. P. 2004 Immersion tomographic study of the motion of bubbles in a flooded granular bed. Teoreticheskie Osnovy Khimicheskoi Tekhnologii 38 (6), 595–603 (translation in Theor. Found. Chem. Engng 38 (6), 561–568).Google Scholar
Romero, J. R., Patterson, J. C. & Melack, J. M. 1996 Simulation of the effect of methane bubble plumes on vertical mixing in Mono Lake. Aquat. Sci. 58 (3), 211–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roosevelt, S. E. & Corapcioglu, M. Y. 1998 Air bubble migration in a granular porous medium: experimental studies. Water Resour. Res. 34 (5), 1131–1142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoell, M., Tietze, K. & Schoberth, S. M. 1988 Origin of methane in Lake Kivu (East-Central Africa). In: Schoell, M. (Guest editor), Origins of methane in the Earth. Chem. Geol. 71, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimuzu, K. & Imberger, J. 2008 Energetics and damping of basin-scale internal waves in a strongly stratified lake. Limnol. Oceanogr. 53 (4), 1574–1588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, R. 2009 An assessment of sediment diagenesis modelling by the computational aquatic ecosystem dynamics model. Report for Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia.Google Scholar
Vanoni, V. A. 1975 Sedimentation Engineering. ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice No. 54. ASCE.Google Scholar
Yeates, P. S. & Imberger, J. 2003 Pseudo two dimensional simulations of internal and boundary fluxes in stratified lakes and reservoirs. Intl. J. River Basin Manage. 1 (4), 297–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar