Turbulent Bubbly Channel Flow Investigated by Ultrasound Velocity Profiler

Abstract

Ultrasound velocity profiler (UVP) is applied to measurements of a horizontal turbulent bubbly channel flow to ascertain the mechanism of bubble-induced frictional drag reduction. Typical parameter regimes of the target flow are Re number of 0.6-6.0 x104, void fraction of 0-3%, and bubble diameter of 10-50mm. Since the UVP system only outputs velocity profiles on an ultrasound beam inside a liquid phase, a signal processing method for raw velocity data is proposed and used to detect the bubble interface. A conditional averaged liquid phase velocity profile that excludes gas phase data, has shown for the first time the structure of a turbulent boundary layer altered by large buoyant bubbles sliding along the channel wall.

Keywords

• ultrasound velocity profiler
• multiphase flow
• turbulent flow
• drag reduction
• bubble dynamics