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Buoyancy-driven single bubble behaviour in a vertical Hele-Shaw cell with various gap Reynolds numbers Re(h/d) 2 has been studied. Two gap thicknesses, h = 0.5 mm (Re(h/d) 2 = 1.0–8.5) and 1 mm (Re(h/d) 2 = 6.0–50) were used to represent low and high gap Reynolds number flow. Periodic shape oscillation and path vibration were observed once the gap Reynolds number exceeds the critical value of 8.5. The bubble behaviour was also numerically simulated by taking a two-dimensional volume of fluid method coupled with a continuum surface force model and a wall friction model in the commercial computational fluid dynamics package Fluent. By adjusting the viscous resistance values, the bubble dynamics in the two gap thicknesses can be simulated. For the main flow properties including shape, path, terminal velocity, horizontal vibration, and shape oscillation, good agreement is obtained between experiment and simulation. The estimated terminal velocity is 10%–50% higher than the observed one when the bubble diameter d ≤ 5 mm, h = 0.5 mm and 9% higher when d ≤ 18 mm, h = 1.0 mm. The estimated oscillation frequency is 50% higher than the observed value. Three-dimensional effects and spurious vortices are most likely the reason for this inaccuracy. The simulation confirms that the thin liquid films between gas bubbles and the cell walls have a limited effect on the bubble dynamics. ispartof: Physics of Fluids vol:26 issue:12 pages:123303-1 status: published