Liquid velocity fluctuations and energy spectra in three-dimensional buoyancy driven bubbly flows

We present a direct numerical simulation (DNS) study of pseudo-turbulence in buoyancy driven bubbly flows for a range of Reynolds (\(\Rey\)) and Atwood (\(\At\)) numbers. We study the probability distribution function of the horizontal and vertical liquid velocity fluctuations and find them to be in quantitative agreement with the experiments. The energy spectrum shows the \(k^{-3}\) scaling at high \(\Rey\) and becomes steeper on reducing the \(\Rey\). To investigate the spectral transfers in the flow, we derive the scale-by-scale energy budget equation. Our analysis shows that, for scales smaller than the bubble diameter, the net production because of the surface tension and the kinetic energy flux balances viscous dissipation to give the \(k^{-3}\) scaling of the energy spectrum for both low and high \(\At\).