DEFORMATIONS AND SPLITTINGS OF A BUBBLE IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL FLUIDIZED BED

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Abstract

The behavior of deformations and splittings of a single bubble was studied experimentally in a two-dimensional fluidized bed. It was found that small downward cusps were generated at the bubble surface near the stagnation point and that they grew and necessarily caused bubble deformations and, frequently, bubble splittings. The authors call these cusps "disturbances".
The frequencies of disturbances and splittings were observed and the following results were found. 1) About 4-8 disturbances were generated per second almost near the stagnation point, and they ran along the edge of a bubble to be lost near the wake; 2) about 14-30 percent of the disturbances also caused bubble splittings; 3) there were two types of splittings; 4) the frequencies of distrubances and splittings decreased with increase of particle diameter; and 5) neither frequency depended much on bubble diameter.