Characterization of Bubble Size Distributions within a Bubble Column
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
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Fluids 2018, 3(1), 13; https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3010013
Received: 15 December 2017 / Revised: 25 January 2018 / Accepted: 4 February 2018 / Published: 7 February 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flow and Heat or Mass Transfer in the Chemical Process Industry)
The current study experimentally examines bubble size distribution (BSD) within a bubble column and the associated characteristic length scales. Air was injected into a column of water via a single injection tube. The column diameter (63–102 mm), injection tube diameter (0.8–1.6 mm) and superficial gas velocity (1.4–55 mm/s) were varied. Large samples (up to 54,000 bubbles) of bubble sizes measured via 2D imaging were used to produce probability density functions (PDFs). The PDFs were used to identify an alternative length scale termed the most frequent bubble size (dmf) and defined as the peak in the PDF. This length scale as well as the traditional Sauter mean diameter were used to assess the sensitivity of the BSD to gas injection rate, injector tube diameter, injection tube angle and column diameter. The dmf was relatively insensitive to most variation, which indicates these bubbles are produced by the turbulent wakes. In addition, the current work examines higher order statistics (standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) and notes that there is evidence in support of using these statistics to quantify the influence of specific parameters on the flow-field as well as a potential indicator of regime transitions.
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Keywords:
bubble column; bubble size distribution; Sauter mean diameter; probability density function; skewness; kurtosis
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MDPI and ACS Style
Mohagheghian, S.; Elbing, B.R. Characterization of Bubble Size Distributions within a Bubble Column. Fluids 2018, 3, 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3010013
AMA Style
Mohagheghian S, Elbing BR. Characterization of Bubble Size Distributions within a Bubble Column. Fluids. 2018; 3(1):13. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3010013
Chicago/Turabian StyleMohagheghian, Shahrouz; Elbing, Brian R. 2018. "Characterization of Bubble Size Distributions within a Bubble Column" Fluids 3, no. 1: 13. https://doi.org/10.3390/fluids3010013
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