This paper describes the effects of uniform and non-uniform liquid co-flow on the bubbly flow in a rectangular column (with two inlets) deliberately aerated unevenly. The two vertical bubbly streams, comprising uniform bubbles, started interacting downstream of the trailing edge of a splitter plate. This study quantifies the emergence of buoyancy driven flow patterns as a function of the degree of a-symmetric gas sparging and (non-)uniform liquid co-flow by using Bubble Image Velocimetry (BIV) and dual-tip optical fibre probes. Without liquid co-flow, small differences in the gas fraction of the left and right inlet had a large effect on the mixing pattern, whereas a liquid co-flow stabilized a homogeneous flow regime and the flow pattern was less sensitive to gas fraction differences. Void fractions, bubble velocities and chord lengths were measured at two fixed position in the flow channel, whereas BIV provided a global overview of the flow structures. A correlation was developed to predict (a-symmetric) operating conditions for which the gas fraction of the left and right inlet are balanced, such that the bubble motion is governed by advection and no buoyancy driven flow structures arise. The data obtained is highly valuable for CFD validation and development purposes.

Unique experiments were performed in a homogeneously sparged rectangular 400×200×2630 mm (W×D×H) bubble column with and without liquid co-flow. Bubbles in the range 4–7 mm were produced by needle spargers, which resulted in a very uniform bubble size. Dual-tip optical fibre probes were used to measure horizontal profiles of gas fractions, bubble velocities and bubble chord lengths for superficial gas velocities U_sg in the range 0.63–6.25 cm/s and superficial liquid velocities U_sl up to 20 cm/s. Images of the bubble column were captured and a Bubble Image Velocimetry technique was adopted to calculate bubble (parcel) velocities. For low gas fractions, when a homogeneous flow regime occurred, both methods agreed very well and the optical fibre probes were found to be rather accurate for our bubbles. A liquid co-flow was found to have a calming effect and to stabilize a homogeneous bubbly flow regime, with less spatial variation in gas fractions and bubble velocities. Bubble chord lengths were almost normally distributed and do not exhibit the theoretical triangular probability density functions. The mean cord lengths were in the range 1.9–3.5 mm and found to increase with U_sg and to decrease slightly with increasing U_sl, while a liquid co-flow significantly reduced the standard deviation of the chord length distribution.

We report experiments on bubble formation from needles with and without liquid co-flow, carried out with needles in the range of 0.79<d _n <2.06 mm, for gas flow rates up to 4.5 cm ³ /s per needle, and with liquid co-flow velocities up to 0.4 m/s. Bubble sizes and frequencies were obtained by means measuring an acoustic signal in the pressurized chamber upstream, which is validated by high-speed imaging analysis. Bubble contours, bubble growth curves and time return plots were obtained to analyse the bubble formation process. Different bubbling regimes are distinguished and a novel dimensionless pressure ratio is proposed to forecast the emergence of weeping and the transition from constant flow rate bubbling to constant chamber pressure bubbling. A single correlation for the non-dimensional bubble size with and without liquid co-flow was developed and validated with the experimental data obtained in the present study.

As Euler-Euler CFD simulations of bubbly flows suffer from uncertainties due to the many underpinning models, there is an obvious need of accurate experimental data for validation. With this in mind, a new bubbly flow test rig was built to be operated with and without liquid co-flow, with bubble size as uniform as possible in the range 4–7 mm, and with a very even horizontal bubble distribution. We designed the gas sparging system such that we can also produce an essentially bi-modal bubble size distribution. The column consists of two square sections to allow for studying the mixing of two originally separated bubbly flows with either the same or a different bubble size. The bubbles are produced from 2 × 196 needles, bubble sizes are determined with high-speed imaging and with a simple acoustical method, overall volume fractions in the column by means of air chamber pressure measurements. Overall volume fractions are presented as a function of gas and liquid flow rates, with slip velocity mostly increasing with increasing void fraction. First results are obtained on (a) producing bi-model bubble size distributions and the pertinent volume fractions in the column, and (b) flow patterns in the case of unequal aeration.