We present an experimental study on the behavior of bubbles captured in a Taylor vortex. The gap between a rotating inner cylinder and a stationary outer cylinder is filled with a Newtonian mineral oil. Beyond a critical rotation speed (ω[subscript c]), Taylor vortices appear in this system. Small air bubbles are introduced into the gap through a needle connected to a syringe pump. These are then captured in the cores of the vortices (core bubble) and in the outflow regions along the inner cylinder (wall bubble). The flow field is measured with a two-dimensional particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) system. The motion of the bubbles is monitored by using a high speed video camera. It has been found that, if the core bubbles are all of the same size, a bubble ring forms at the center of the vortex such that bubbles are azimuthally uniformly distributed. There is a saturation number (N[subscript s]) of bubbles in the ring, such that the addition of one more bubble leads eventually to a coalescence and a subsequent complicated evolution. Ns increases with increasing rotation speed and decreasing bubble size. For bubbles of non-uniform size, small bubbles and large bubbles in nearly the same orbit can be observed to cross due to their different circulating speeds. The wall bubbles, however, do not become uniformly distributed, but instead form short bubble-chains which might eventually evolve into large bubbles. The motion of droplets and particles in a Taylor vortex was also investigated. As with bubbles, droplets and particles align into a ring structure at low rotation speeds, but the saturation number is much smaller. Moreover, at high rotation speeds, droplets and particles exhibit a characteristic periodic oscillation in the axial, radial and tangential directions due to their inertia. In addition, experiments with non-spherical particles show that they behave rather similarly. This study provides a better understanding of particulate behavior in vortex flow structures. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

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[pt] O escoamento em um espaço anular parcialmente obstruído é estudado para uma geometria entre cilindros concêntricos. A obstrução parcial é uma primeira aproximação de um escoamento em um espaço anular com um leito de cascalhos sedimentado que ocorre no processo de perfuração de poços para produção de óleo e gás, particularmente no caso de poços inclinados e horizontais. A presença de uma placa de obstrução parcial promove a assimetria no escoamento de tal modo que interfere na formação do regime de vórtices de Taylor. O campo de velocidade para esses escoamentos foi obtido via solução numérica e experimental. Nas simulações numéricas, as equações de conservação de massa e quantidade de movimento linear foram resolvidas para um escoamento de fluido newtoniano e não newtoniano pela técnica de volumes finitos. Os resultados experimentais foram obtidos a partir de campos instantâneos e médios de velocidade em planos meridionais do espaço anular usando a técnica de velocimetria por imagens de partículas (PIV). As medições focalizaram a obtenção do número de Reynolds rotacional crítico e a obtenção do perfil de velocidade axial passando pelo olho do vórtice. Os resultados mostram que o número de Reynolds crítico é diretamente afetado pelo grau de obstrução do espaço anular, assim como a largura dos vórtices de Taylor. O resultado dos perfis de velocidade axial calculados concorda bem com os resultados obtidos experimentalmente. A transição para o regime de vórtices de Taylor também é bem prevista pelo método numérico. Os resultados numéricos para a largura dos vórtices de Taylor não apresentam boa concordância, dependendo das condições de contorno estipuladas. A presença da placa de obstrução parcial promove uma recirculação circunferencial no escoamento que interage com o escoamento de vórtices de Taylor formando um escoamento complexo a partir de níveis de obstrução moderados. / [en] The flow inside a horizontal annulus due to the inner cylinder rotation is studied. The bottom of the annular space is partially blocked by a plate parallel to the axis of rotation, thereby destroying the circumferential symmetry of the annular space geometry. This flow configuration is found in the drilling process of horizontal petroleum wells, where a bed of cuttings is deposited at the bottom part of the annulus. The velocity field for this flow was obtained both numerically and experimentally. In the numerical work, the equations which govern the threedimensional, laminar flow of Newtonian and non-Newtonian liquids were solved via a finite-volume technique. In the experimental research, the instantaneous and time-averaged flow fields over two-dimensional meridional sections of the annular space were measured employing the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique, both for Newtonian and power-law liquids. Attention was focused on the determination of the onset of secondary flow in the form of distorted Taylor vortices. The results showed that the critical rotational Reynolds number is directly influenced by the degree of obstruction of the flow. The influence of the obstruction is more perceptible in Newtonian than non- Newtonian liquids. The larger is the obstruction, the larger is the critical Taylor number. The height of the obstruction also controls the width of the vortices. The calculated steady state axial velocity profiles agreed well with the corresponding measurements. Transition values of the rotational Reynolds number are also well predicted by the computations. However, the measured and predicted values for the vortex size do not agree as well. Transverse flow maps revealed a complex interaction between the Taylor vortices and the zones of recirculating flow, for moderate to high degrees of flow obstruction.