ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how the boundary integral method, with an axisymmet-ric formulation, can be used to model the motion of a bubble close to a fixed rigid structure, such as a sphere, cylinder or a plate, immersed in an infinite fluid. It introduces a simple mathematical model which can be used to study the motion of a bubble in a fluid. The chapter discusses the problem as an integral equation over the surfaces of the bubble and rigid structure, and describes a numerical scheme for obtaining its solution and presents the results for the motion of a bubble close to a number of different rigid structures under the influence of gravity. It also shows how the basic method can be modified to include finite rigid structures immersed in the fluid close to the bubble. The boundary element method has shown to be a useful tool in predicting the motion of the bubble in an infinite and semi-infinite potential flow situation.
