Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

We present an evaluation study on the characterization of bubbles rising in liquid sodium by applying two-plane ultrafast X-ray computed tomography (UFXCT). It includes a new method for determining the three-dimensional shape and velocity vector of each individual bubble. In the experimental part, argon gas was injected through a single nozzle located slightly above the bottom of a cylindrical vessel filled with liquid sodium. The gas flow rate was varied between 10 and 635 cm3/min to obtain a chain of individual bubbles. In this parameter range, collisions of bubbles, coalescence or breakup are not expected. Measurements were carried out in a wide spatial range starting near the nozzle up to a height of about 200 mm above it. It was convincingly demonstrated that two-plane UFXCT imaging, in combination with the data processing presented here, allows a reliable characterization of the size, shape and velocity of bubbles with a size of a few millimeters in a sodium column of 54 mm diameter. Observed experimental results include a reproducible fluctuation of shape, position and velocity in the lower part of the column as well as lower terminal rise velocities compared to bubble chains in water.