Application of an immersed boundary method with analytical interface approximation to a bubble chain in liquid metal

Bubble-laden liquid metal flows are an important topic in metallurgy, where bubbles are used for stirring, to remove inclusions, to control chemical reactions, etc. The bubbles encountered in this flows are generally too large to remain spherical, but deform. Deformation can enhance separation of the wake behind the bubble noticeably increasing drag [1]. Furthermore, deformable bubbles lead to an increase of turbulent kinetic energy while having almost no impact on the mean flow, which is a significant difference to flows with spherical bubbles. Furthermore, the near-wall behavior of spherical and non-spherical bubbles differs [2,3]. The deformation of a stationary rising single bubble is well-understood [4]. However, for unsteady flows containing larger numbers of interacting bubbles the deformation and its impact on the flow is not known and therefore investigated in this work.