On the rising dynamics of a Taylor bubble in sudden/gradual expansion tubes filled with viscoelastic liquids

In this paper, the rise behaviors of Taylor bubbles are investigated in sudden/gradual tubes filled with viscoelastic media via grid adaptive direct numerical simulations (DNS). The exponential Phan–Thien–Tanner (PTT) constitutive model is used to describe the viscoelastic rheological characteristics, and the phase interface is captured via the volume of fluid (VOF) method. The effects of tube structure (diameter ratio and structural angle) and fluid elasticity (expressed by the Weissenberg number Wi) on bubble dynamics have been studied. Our results indicate that bubbles are prone to rupture in the expansion tubes, mainly due to the dual effects of the wall and the elastic relaxation. The fluid elasticity suppresses the jet effect in a sudden expansion tube. Meantime, as the structural angle or the diameter ratio increases, the wall effect is weakened on axial or radial scales, inhibiting the bubble rupture. A large structure angle attenuates the wall effect, while changes in the diameter ratio slow down the radial momentum transfer near the wall region, both of which favor bubble integrity. We also obtain an exponential relationship between the critical rupture time and the structure angle. The dynamical Taylor bubbles can be operated by the structure of the tube and surrounding fluid viscoelasticity, which is of great significance in chemical engineering applications involving complex non-Newtonian fluids.