Bubble dynamics during the non-isothermal degassing of liquids. Exploiting microgravity conditions

This work reviews the up to date state of understanding of dynamic phenomena occurring when gas bubbles grow over submerged heated surfaces. Gas bubbles are produced on hot surfaces because the adjacent liquid layers become superheated causing local desorption of dissolved gases while the liquid far afield remains at low temperatures. Non-isothermal degassing is a very complex process combining heat and mass transport coupled with momentum exchange between the two phases. Difficulties due to buoyancy effects on gas bubbles as well as natural convection of hot liquid layers hindered its thorough investigation in terrestrial conditions and only recent microgravity data allowed serious progress to be made. To reduce the complexity, gas bubble growth on a heated wall was studied here separately from bubble lateral motion and coalescence. A complete mathematical formulation was provided but given the inability to solve the problem numerically with the present resources, a series of approximate solutions were attempted. The comparison between experimental observations and theoretical predictions revealed useful information regarding the governing mechanisms of bubble growth.