FORUM

Air-Water Flow Measurements with Intrusive, Phase-Detection

Probes: Can We Improve Their Interpretation?
H. Chanson1 ference in electrical resistivity between air and water. The resis-
1
Reader, Fluid Mechanics, Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering, tance of air is 1,000 times larger than that of water, and a needle
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane resistivity probe gives accurate information on the local void fluc-
QLD 4072, Australia. tuations 共Herringe 1973; Serizawa et al. 1975; Chanson 1997a兲.
Fig. 1 illustrates examples of intrusive probe designs. There
are two types: the single tip and dual-tip probes. Their respective
Introduction purposes are described below. Typical probe signals are shown in
Fig. 2. Although a probe signal should be theoretically rectangu-
Interest in air-water flows has not diminished in recent years, as lar, probe response is not exactly square because of the finite size
evident by the number of associated papers published in the Jour- of the tip, the wetting/drying time of the interface covering the
nal of Hydraulic Engineering 共ASCE兲 and other journals, such as tip, and the response time of the probe and electronics.
the Journal of Hydraulic Research 共IAHR兲, the International
Journal of Multiphase Flow and the Journal of Fluids Engineer-
ing 共ASME兲. For example, during the period January 1998 to July Basic Measurements and Data Analysis
2001, the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering published nine pa-
pers on air-water flow measurements. Approximately twice as For both probe types, the probe outputs basically are the void
many papers appeared in the International Journal of Multiphase fraction and bubble-count rate. Dual-tip probes also provide air-
Flow. The interest is accompanied by frequent citations of very water velocity, specific interface area, and distributions of chord
early, sometimes outdated articles. Such citations suggest that length. Fig. 3 presents an example of void fraction, bubble-count
little progress has been achieved in past decades. To be sure, rate, velocity, and specific interface area distributions measured in
some articles are classics: for example, Straub and Anderson a skimming flow down a 16° stepped cascade 共step height: 0.1 m;
共1958兲. Their work was cited 24 times between 1985 and June flow rate: 0.188 m2/s兲. The data presented in Fig. 2 and subse-
2001. Another classic is Wood 共1983兲. It was cited 10 times be- quently in Figs. 4 and 5 were recorded in the same cross section
tween 1985 and June 2001 共source: Science Citation Index Ex- at y⫽53 mm. Details are given in Chanson and Toombes
panded兲. 共2001a兲.
The writer believes that a particularly important issue is the The air concentration or void fraction C is the proportion of
often inadequate or incomplete interpretation of air-water flow time that the probe tip is in the air. Past experience shows that the
instrumentation by hydraulic engineers and researchers. The probe orientation with the flow direction has little effect on the
present Forum article briefly comments of the several common void fraction accuracy, provided that the probe support does not
techniques for measuring air-water flows by means of intrusive affect the flow past the tip 共e.g., Sene 1984兲. The bubble count
phase detection probes, and it describes a basic data processing rate F is the number of bubbles impacting the probe tip. This
method that readily yields expanded information on air-water measurement is sensitive to probe tip size, bubble sizes, velocity,
flow properties. and scanning rate, particularly when sensor size is larger than the
smallest bubble sizes. There is an unique relationship between
bubble count rate and void fraction as demonstrated by Toombes
Intrusive Phase-Detection Probes 共2002兲.
Velocity measurement is based upon the successive detection
In hydraulic engineering, most air-water flows are characterized of air-water interfaces by two tips. This technique assumes that
by large amounts of entrained air. Void fractions are commonly the probe tips are aligned along a streamline and that bubbles and
larger than 5–10%, and flows are of high velocity with ratios of droplets are little affected by the leading tip. In turbulent air-water
flow velocity to bubble-rise velocity greater than 10 or even 20. flows, the successive detection of a bubble by each tip is highly
Classical measurement probes 共e.g., pointer gauge, Pitot tube, improbable, and therefore it is common to use a cross-correlation
LDA velocimeter兲 are affected by air bubbles and can produce technique 共e.g., Crowe et al. 1998兲. The time-averaged, air-water
inaccurate readings. velocity equals
When void fraction C exceeds about 10–15%, and when the
liquid fraction (1⫺C) is larger than about 5–10%, the most re- ⌬x
V⫽ (1)
liable probes are the intrusive phase detection probes, notably the T
optical fiber probe and the conductivity/resistivity probe 共Jones
and Delhaye 1976; Bachalo 1994; Chanson 1997a兲. Intrusive where ⌬x is the distance between tips 共Fig. 1兲, and T is the time
probes are designed to pierce bubbles and droplets. The principle for which the cross-correlation function is maximum 共Fig. 4兲. The
behind the optical probe is the change in optical index between shape of the cross-correlation function provides further informa-
the two phases 共Cartellier 1992; Cartellier and Barrau 1998兲. The tion on the velocity fluctuations. The turbulent intensity may be
principle behind the conductivity, or electrical probe, is the dif- derived from the broadening of the cross-correlation function

252 / JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING / MARCH 2002

 Fig. 1. Intrusive phase detection probes: sketches of probe design

compared to the auto-correlation function 共Kipphan 1977; Chan- 4•F

son and Toombes 2001b兲. Fig. 4 shows an example of auto- and a⫽ (3)
V
cross-correlation functions for the flow case mentioned above.
The measurement of the air-water interface area is a function
Eq. 共3兲 is valid for bubbly flows. In regions of high air content
of void fraction, velocity, bubble size, and bubble count. Specific
(C⬎0.3– 0.4), the flow structure is more complex, and the result
air-water interface area, a, is defined as the air-water interface
is not exactly the true specific interface area. Then, a becomes
area per unit volume of air and water. It may be estimated from
simply proportional to the number of air-water interfaces per unit
the air bubble size in monosize bubbly flows
length of air-water mixture, i.e., a⬀2•F/V.
C
a⫽6• (2) Remarks
⭋
Some studies have suggested that interfacial velocities may be
where ⭋ is the bubble diameter. Measurements with intrusive measured with a single-tip probe, based upon the voltage rise time
probes do not provide bubble diameters but bubble chord lengths associated with a water-air transition 共e.g., Cartellier 1992兲. How-
共Fig. 1兲. For any bubble shape, size distribution, and chord length ever, this technique is restricted to specific applications and probe
distribution, the mean chord length size 共i.e., number mean size兲 designs. Several studies show that it does not work with most
equals C•V/F by continuity. The specific air-water interface area probes, for large void fractions, or high velocities 共e.g., Sene
may then be estimated as 1984; Cummings 1996兲.

Fig. 2. Voltages across a double-tip conductivity probe 共scan rate: 20 Fig. 3. Distributions of air concentration, bubble-count rate, velocity,
kHz per tip兲. Local air-water flow properties: C⫽0.29; V and specific interface area. Skimming flow down a 16° stepped chute
⫽3.24 m/s; F⫽217 Hz 共skimming flow兲. 共0.19 m2/s; step height: 0.1 m, step edge 8兲.

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 cal of interest is volatile 共e.g., oxygen兲, the transfer is controlled
by the liquid phase, and the gas transfer of the dissolved chemical
may be expressed as
⳵
C ⫽k •a• 共 C sat⫺C gas兲 (4)
⳵t gas L

where k L is the liquid film coefficient; a is the specific surface

area; C gas is the local dissolved gas concentration; and C sat is the
concentration of dissolved gas in water at equilibrium 共e.g.,
Gulliver 1990兲. Eq. 共4兲 accounts for the effect of air bubble en-
trainment and the drastic increase in interfacial area. Many stud-
ies have assumed implicitly that the term (k L •a) is a constant.
For example, this assumption is made by all but one relevant
Fig. 4. Normalized auto-correlation and cross-correlation functions. papers published in the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering and the
Local air-water flow properties: C⫽0.29; V⫽3.24 m/s; F Journal of Environmental Engineering 共ASCE兲 during the period
⫽217 Hz 共skimming flow兲. January 1998 to July 2001. The assumption is incorrect. Detailed
studies showed that the mass transfer coefficient k L in turbulent
gas-liquid flows is almost constant regardless of bubble sizes and
flow situations 共e.g., Kawase and Moo-Young 1992兲, but the in-
The probe signals may be analyzed to provide bubble and terface area varies greatly along a hydraulic structure as a func-
droplet chord size distributions 共e.g., Chanson 1997b, 1999兲, al- tion of the air-water flow properties, as explained above. If the
though the amount of data processing is significant. Fig. 5 pre- air-water interface area is measured, the integration of the mass
sents the probability distribution functions of bubble chord sizes transfer equation may provide a genuine, accurate estimate of
and water chord sizes in 0.5 mm intervals. The data were mea- aeration performances 共e.g., Toombes and Chanson 2000兲.
sured at the same location and for the same flow conditions as
those in Figs. 2 and 4. Bubble chord sizes are indicated in white,
and water chord sizes in black. The last column indicates the Concluding Comment
probability of chord size exceeding 20 mm. Further signal pro-
cessing may yield information on air-water structures, including During the period January 1998 to July 2001, the Journal of Hy-
bubble/droplet clusters 共e.g., Chanson and Tombes 2001a兲. draulic Engineering published nine papers on air-water flow mea-
surements. All but one paper presented only void fraction data,
although some papers presented velocity data as well. The writ-
Application to Air-Water Mass Transfer er’s intent with this Forum article is to point out that the probes
and techniques customarily used for obtaining air-water proper-
Air-water flows in hydraulic structures have great potential for ties can readily provide substantially more information than most
aeration enhancement of flow because of the large interfacial area papers present. With relative ease, intrusive phase-detection
generated by entrained bubbles, as inferred by Fig. 3. This con- probes may provide detailed additional information on bubble
sideration is worthy commenting on in the context of using intru- count rate, specific interface area, and bubble chord sizes. Such
sive probes for measuring air-water flow. information is essential to gain a better understanding of air-water
The mass transfer rate of a chemical across an interface varies mass transfer in hydraulic engineering applications. It will further
directly as the coefficient of molecular diffusion, the negative assist comprehension of the interactions between turbulence and
gradient of gas concentration, and the interface area. If the chemi- entrained air: interactions actively researched by multiphase flow
experts, including hydraulic engineers.

Acknowledgment

The writer thanks Dr. R. Ettema for his influential comments.

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