Bubble reconstruction method for wire-mesh sensors measurements

Abstract

A new algorithm is presented for post-processing of void fraction measurements with wire-mesh sensors, particularly for identifying and reconstructing bubble surfaces in a two-phase flow. This method is a combination of the bubble recognition algorithm presented in Prasser (Nuclear Eng Des 237(15):1608, 2007) and Poisson surface reconstruction algorithm developed in Kazhdan et al. (Poisson surface reconstruction. In: Proceedings of the fourth eurographics symposium on geometry processing 7, 2006). To verify the proposed technique, a comparison was done of the reconstructed individual bubble shapes with those obtained numerically in Sato and Niceno (Int J Numer Methods Fluids 70(4):441, 2012). Using the difference between reconstructed and referenced bubble shapes, the accuracy of the proposed algorithm was estimated. At the next step, the algorithm was applied to void fraction measurements performed in Ylonen (High-resolution flow structure measurements in a rod bundle (Diss., Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule ETH Zurich, Nr. 20961, 2013) by means of wire-mesh sensors in a rod bundle geometry. The reconstructed bubble shape yields bubble surface area and volume, hence its Sauter diameter \(d_{32}\) as well. Sauter diameter is proved to be more suitable for bubbles size characterization compared to volumetric diameter \(d_{30}\), proved capable to capture the bi-disperse bubble size distribution in the flow. The effect of a spacer grid was studied as well: For the given spacer grid and considered flow rates, bubble size frequency distribution is obtained almost at the same position for all cases, approximately at \(d_{32} = 3.5\) mm. This finding can be related to the specific geometry of the spacer grid or the air injection device applied in the experiments, or even to more fundamental properties of the bubble breakup and coagulation processes. In addition, an application of the new algorithm for reconstruction of a large air–water interface in a tube bundle is presented.