On the slow motion of a cluster of bubbles under the combined action of gravity and thermocapillarity

The slow migration of N spherical bubbles under combined buoyancy and thermocapillarity effects is investigated by appealing solely to 3N+1 boundary-integral equations. In addition to the theory and the associated implementation strategy, preliminary numerical results are both presented and discussed for a few clusters involving 2, 3, 4 or 5 bubbles with a special attention paid to the case of rigid configurations. To cite this article: A. Sellier, C. R. Mecanique 333 (2005).