Shape of isolated bubble in intermittent flows in a horizontal pipe

An experimental study on the shape of a single bubble similar to those observed in a horizontal plug/slug flow was performed using visual observation and conductance probes. The results indicated that the shapes of the bubble nose and the bubble body depend on the Froude number defined by gas/liquid mixture velocity, whereas the shape of the back region of the bubble depends on both the Froude number and bubble length. The photographic images showed that the structural feature of the bubble head is related to the motion characteristics of the bubble. The transition from plug flow to slug flow occurs when the tail of the bubble changes from a staircase to hydraulic jump pattern with the increasing of the Froude number and bubble length.