An experimental investigation of bubble rise characteristics in a crystal suspended non-Newtonian fluid

Abstract

An experimental study of the bubble rise characteristics in non-Newtonian fluid with crystal suspension is presented in this paper. The suspension was made of different concentration of xanthan gum solutions with 0.23 mm polystyrene crystal particle. Different percentage of crystal content (by weight) was used to vary rheological properties. The effect of crystal particles and bubble volumes on the bubble rise velocity and bubble trajectory is analysed. The results show that the average bubble velocity increases with the increase in bubble volume for crystal suspended xanthan gum solution. In trajectory analysis, it is seen that the small bubbles experienced less horizontal motion in crystal suspended xanthan gum solution while larger bubbles followed a spiral motion. Experimentally determined data for the drag coefficient at high Reynolds number are compared with the results of other analytical and experimental studies available in the literature. The reported experimental data of drag co-efficient increases in crystal suspended xanthan gum solution for corresponding bubble volume and was found to be consistent with published data.