Bubble-driven liquid metal flows influenced by miscellaneous magnetic fields

Bubble driven flows have found wide applications in industrial technologies. In metallurgical processes gas bubbles are injected into a bulk liquid metal to drive the liquid into motion, to homogenize the physical and chemical properties of the melt or to refine the melt. For such gas-liquid metal two-phase flows, external magnetic fields provide a possibility to control the bubble motion in a contactless way.
Compared to the numerous experimental studies on the movement of bubbles in transparent liquids, especially in water, the number of publications dealing with gas bubbles rising in liquid metals is comparatively small. The shortage of suitable measuring techniques can be considered as one reason for the slow progress in the investigations of gas-liquid metal flows. We applied the Ultrasound Doppler Velocimetry (UDV) for measurements of the velocity structure in liquid metal bubbly flows. Because of the ability to work non-invasively in opaque fluids and to deliver complete velocity profiles in real time it is very attractive for liquid metal applications. In the range of small or moderate void fractions the UDV technique delivers both the bubble and the liquid velocity.