Flow structure of microbubble-laden turbulent channel flow measured by PIV combined with the shadow image technique

The turbulence structure of a horizontal channel flow with microbubbles is experimentally investigated using combined particle image velocimetry (PIV) in order to clarify the mechanism of drag reduction caused by microbubbles. A new system which simultaneously measures the liquid phase and the dispersed bubbles is proposed, based on a combination of particle tracking velocimetry (PTV), laser-induced. fluorescence (LIF) and the shadow image technique (SIT). To accurately obtain the velocity of the liquid phase, tracer particles which overlap with the bubble shadow images are almost entirely eliminated in the post-processing. Finally, the turbulence characteristics of the flow field are presented, including measurements for both phases, and the bubble effect on the turbulence is quantified.