Bubble growth in a variable diffusion coefficient liquid

Abstract

A model for the mass-transfer-controlled spherical bubble growth in a quiescent liquid is presented. The liquid is of variable diffusion coefficient, which depends exponentially on the concentration. Using the method presented in Scriven (L.E. Scriven, On the dynamics of phase growth, Chem. Eng. Sci. 10 (1959) 1-13], for a constant diffusion coefficient liquid, the differential binary mass balance was transformed into an ordinary differential equation, trough a similarity transformation, which was numerically solved. The final results were also compared with approximately analytical solutions, for slow and fast growth rates, developed by Polyanin and Dil'man [A.D. Polyanin, V.V. Dil'man. The method of the 'carry over' of integral transforms in non-linear mass and heat transfer problems, Int. J. Heat Mass Trans. 33 (1990) 175181] and by the authors.