Measurement of liquid turbulent structure in bubbly flow at low void fraction using ultrasonic Doppler method

Microscopic structure in bubbly flows has been a topic of interest in the study of fluid dynamics. In the present paper, the ultrasonic Doppler method was applied to the measurement of bubbly. The experiments were carried out for an air-water dispersed bubbly flow in a 20 mm x 100 mm vertical rectangular channel having a void fraction smaller than 3%. Two ultrasonic transducers were installed on the outer surface of the test section with a contact angle of 45degrees off the vertical axis, one facing upward and the other facing downward. By applying statistical methods to the two directional velocity profiles, Reynolds stress profiles were calculated. Furthermore, to clarify the wake effect induced by the leading bubbles, the velocity profiles were divided into two types of data. The first one is for all of the liquid data and the other is the data which did not include the wake effect. For Re-m greater than or equal to 1,593, it was observed that the bubbles suppressed the liquid turbulence. Furthermore, comparing with the Reynolds stress profiles in bubbly flow, it was found that Reynolds stress profiles varied with the amount of bubbles present in the flow and the effect of wake causes turbulence in the liquid.