The effect of microbubbles on developed turbulence

The motion and the action of microbubbles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence are investigated through (three-dimensional) direct numerical simulations of the Navier–Stokes equations and applying the Lagrangian approach to track the bubble trajectories. The forces acting on the bubbles are added mass, drag, lift, and gravity. The bubbles are found to accumulate in vortices, preferably on the side with downward velocity. This effect, mainly caused by the lift force, leads to a reduced average bubble rise velocity. Once the reaction of the bubbles on the carrier flow is embodied using a point-force approximation, an attenuation of the turbulence on large scales and an extra forcing on small scales is found.