Experimental Study of Bubble Motion in Mercury With and Without a Magnetic Field

Abstract

The behavior and hydrodynamical performance of a single bubble rising through mercury with and without magnetic field has been studied experimentally. A new method to measure the rise velocity and the shape of bubble with an electrical triple probe is proposed. When there is no magnetic field, a bubble changes its shape from spherical to elliptic and then to a spherical cap shape, as its equivalent radius Rm changes from 0.1 to 3 mm. The experimental results are found to agree well with the theories reported so far. In the case of a magnetic field, it is found that the effect of intensity of magnetic field B on the rise velocity depends largely on the radius of a bubble. When Rm = 3 mm, the rise velocity decreases monotonically with the increase of B. However, when Rm = 1 mm, the rise velocity increases once but it then starts to decrease afterwards with the increase of B.