Marangoni effects caused by contaminants adsorbed on bubble surfaces

The influence of Marangoni stresses, caused by contaminants adsorbed on the surface of small air bubbles, rising in water, is examined by numerical simulations. A modified level set method is used to represent the deformable bubble interface, extended by a model for the contaminant transport on the bubble surface. We show that surface tension variations of less than 2 % are sufficient to generate Marangoni stresses that are strong enough to change the rising characteristics of a bubble to that of a corresponding solid particle. In such situations, we find that the bubble surface is fully covered with contaminant and the shear stress profile resembles the shear stress profile around a solid sphere.