Ultrasound Pulse-Echo Coupled with a Tracking Technique for Simultaneous Measurement of Multiple Bubbles

Bubbly flows are commonly used in various applications and their measurement is an important research topic. The ultrasound pulse-echo technique allows for the detection of each bubble and the measurement of the position of its surface. However, so far it has been used only to measure single bubbles. This paper investigates whether the pulse-echo technique can be applied for measuring multiple bubbles concurrently. The ultrasonic transducer wavelength and diameter were selected based on expected bubble diameters so that each bubble produced a strong reflection. The pulse-echo was implemented to obtain good accuracy without sacrificing the signal processing speed. A tracking technique was developed for the purpose of connecting detected reflections to trajectories. The technique was tested experimentally by measuring the horizontal position of rising air bubbles in a water tank. The results show that the pulse-echo technique can detect multiple bubbles concurrently. The pulse-echo technique detected almost the same number of bubbles as a high-speed video. For average void fractions up to around 1 % (and instantaneous void fraction reaching 5.3 % ), the rate of bubbles missed by the pulse-echo and the rate of noise trajectories both stayed less than 5%. The error rate increased with the void fraction, limiting the technique’s application range.