Laser induced fluorescence measurements of dissolved oxygen concentration fields near air bubble surfaces

This article describes a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique for measuring dissolved oxygen concentration gradients in water near the surface of an air bubble. Air bubbles are created at the tip of a needle in a rectangular bubble column filled with water that contains pyrenebutyric acid (PBA). The fluorescence of the PBA is induced by a planar pulse of nitrogen laser light. Oxygen transferring from the air bubble to the deoxygenated water quenches the fluorescence of the PBA. Images of the instantaneous and two-dimensional fluorescence field are obtained by a UV-intensified charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. Quenching of fluorescence intensity is determined at each pixel in the CCD image to measure dissolved oxygen concentration. Two-dimensional concentration fields are presented for a series of measurements of oxygen transfer from 1.6 mm bubbles suspended on the tip of a needle in a quiescent fluid. The images show the spatially varying concentration profiles, gradients, and boundary layer thicknesses at positions around the bubble surfaces. These direct and local measurements of concentration behavior within the mass transfer boundary layer show the potential of this LIF technique for the development of general and mechanistic models for oxygen transport across the air–water interface.