Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

An application of wire-mesh sensors to obtain the interfacial area concentration in vertical pipes is presented as an alternative to widely used multiple-tip electrical or optical fibre probes. The measuring data of a mesh sensor consists in a three-dimensional matrix of local instantaneous gas fractions measured at each crossing point of the wires and recorded as a time sequence. Bubbles are clearly reflected in this data matrix, since they represent regions of interconnected elements containing the gaseous phase. The method to deduce the interfacial area concentration from this data is based on a full reconstruction of the gas-liquid interface, where the interfacial area of each bubble is recovered as the sum of the surface area of all surface elements belonging to the given bubble. The new method can be applied to large bubbles with an arbitrary shape. To study the change of the interfacial area concentration along the pipe the distance between sensor and gas injection was varied. Obtained results were compared to the findings reported in literature.