Eliminating high-order scattering effects in optical microbubble sizing.

Measurements of bubble size and velocity in multiphase flows are important in much research and many industrial applications. It has been found that high-order refractions have great impact on microbubble sizing by use of phase-Doppler anemometry (PDA). The problem has been investigated, and a model of phase-size correlation, which also takes high-order refractions into consideration, is introduced to improve the accuracy of bubble sizing. Hence the model relaxes the assumption of a single-scattering mechanism in a conventional PDA system. The results of simulation based on this new model are compared with those based on a single-scattering-mechanism approach or a first-order approach. An optimization method for accurately sizing air bubbles in water has been suggested.