Abstract
The use of optical fiber probe in two-phase flow measurements is very frequently encountered, especially in the applications of chemical engineering and petroleum industries. In this work, the influence of bubble piercing signals caused by bubble deformation is studied experimentally using a laboratory-prepared wedge-shaped fiber probe in a lab-scale gas–liquid flow generator. A three-dimensional simulation model is established to study the influence of bubble deformation on the piercing signals. A theoretical analysis of the characteristics of the pre-signal influenced by the bubble deformations is undertaken for a wide range of different modeled bubble shapes. Combining the experimental and simulation results, a promising analytical method to estimate the bubble shapes by analyzing the characteristics of pre-signals is proposed. The results of this investigation demonstrate that it is possible to estimate the bubble shapes before the fiber probe contacts the bubble surface. The method developed in this investigation is therefore highly promising for reducing errors caused by deformation during the probe piercing process.
Highlights
IntroductionThe accurate analysis of the movement of bubbles in liquid has become a significant challenge when making measurements in gas–liquid two-phase flows [1,2,3]
It can be assumed that the modeled bubble in this simulation acts as a non-standard convex lens, the energy concentration area acts as an equivalent focus point, and the optic fiber probe acts as a moving point light source, the light emitted from the fiber tip is approximated as directional light
Different pre-signal characteristics were observed in the bubble flow measurement when the fiber probe was placed at different locations above the exhaust capillary
Summary
The accurate analysis of the movement of bubbles in liquid has become a significant challenge when making measurements in gas–liquid two-phase flows [1,2,3]. The bubble motion in liquids usually manifests as a complex transient and is a dynamic process that can be characterized as a highly non-steady-state process. Being able to accurately characterize the bubbles’ deformation, sizes and distributions varying with the liquid velocities, flow geometries, and local parameter information has become increasingly important in many natural and industrial applications [4,5,6]. Serious complications can be encountered when investigating bubble properties in gas–liquid flows, and non-invasive techniques have been constrained to determining only the local hydrodynamic parameters. Since Miller and Mitchie [7]
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