Hydrodynamic interaction on large-Reynolds-number aligned bubbles: Drag effects

The hydrodynamic interaction of two equal-sized spherical gas bubbles rising along a vertical line with a Reynolds number (Re) between 50 and 200 is analyzed. An approach to estimate the trailing bubble drag based on the search of a proper reference fluid velocity is proposed. Our main result is a new, simple semi-analytical model for the trailing bubble drag. Additionally, the equilibrium separation distance between bubbles is predicted. The proposed models agree quantitatively up to small distances between bubbles, with reported data for 50 ≤ Re ≤ 200. The relative average error for the trailing bubble drag, Er, is found to be in the range 1.1 ≤ Er ≤ 1.7, i.e., it is of the same order of the analytical predictions in the literature.