An experimental study on local interfacial area concentration using a double-sensor probe

Interfacial area concentration is an important parameter in modeling the interfacial transfer terms in the two-fluid model. In this paper, the interfacial area concentration, void fraction, and bubble Sauter mean diameter for air–water bubbly flow through a vertical transparent pipe with 40 mm internal diameter was investigated experimentally using both digital high-speed camera system and a double-sensor conductivity probe. Based on the experimental data of digital high-speed camera system, the statistical models derived by different researchers for local interfacial area concentration measurement using double-sensor conductivity probe were evaluated. The results show that there are obvious differences among the values of local interfacial area concentration calculated by different statistical models even from the same probe signals. The section-averaged values of the local interfacial area concentration calculated using the statistical model by Kataoka et al. agree best with experimental data of digital high-speed camera system. Therefore, the statistical model developed by Kataoka et al. is recommended for the local measurement of interfacial area concentration using a double-sensor conductivity probe in bubbly two-phase flow. Using the verified double-sensor probe method, we carry out experiment to study the local distribution characteristic of the interfacial area concentration and void fraction in air–water bubbly flow through a vertical pipe.