The relationship between surface-renewal and bursting motions in an open-channel flow

Abstract

Surface-renewal motions in the interfacial region below a gas-liquid interface were experimentally investigated in relation to bursting motions in the wall region. To estimate the frequency of the appearance of surface-renewal eddies, mass-transport experiments with methylene-blue solution, together with velocity measurements, were done in an open-channel flow. The instantaneous concentration of methylene-blue tracer emitted from a point source positioned in the buffer layer was measured at the free surface downstream from the source by an optical probe. Instantaneous streamwise velocity was measured using a laser-Doppler velocimeter at a position in the buffer region. Frequencies of both surface-renewal and bursting events were computed from these concentration and velocity signals using a conditional-averaging method. In order to clarify whether the surface-renewal eddies actually dominate mass transfer across the gas-liquid interface, gas-absorption experiments were added. Carbon dioxide was absorbed into the water flow across the calm free surface and its mass-transfer coefficient on the liquid side was measured under the same flow conditions as used in the above mass-transport experiments. The results show that the surface-renewal motions originate in the bursting motions which vigorously occur in the buffer region. That is, the decelerated fluid which is strongly lifted towards the outer layer by bursting almost always arrives at the free surface and renews the free surface. The frequency of the surface renewal, as well as the bursting frequency, is uniquely determined by the wall variables or the outer-flow variables and the Reynolds number. Mass transfer across the gas-liquid interface is dominated by the large-scale surface-renewal eddies, and the mass-transfer coefficient on the liquid side is proportional to the square-root of the surface-renewal frequency.