Experimental Investigation of Air–Water Flow Properties of Offset Aerators

Abstract

Although chute aerators have been investigated experimentally by many researchers, only a few studies have been conducted on the comprehensive air–water flow properties of the lower jet downstream chute aerators. In this study, after eliminating the upper aeration of the jet, a complete characterization was recorded and presented for the distributions of air concentration, air–water velocity, and bubble frequency. Based on these extensive tests, a comprehensive equation to compute the air concentration distributions of each zone was presented. The velocity distribution had a shape similar to that of shear air–water flows; however, the quantitative parameters differ in each zone. In the cavity zone, the position of the maximum air bubble frequency was largely within a region of relatively high air concentration and gradually approached an equal air concentration of 0.50. The location of the maximum air bubble frequency was approximately the same as that of the section maximum air concentration at a section in the impact zone, but lower than that in the equilibrium zone. Self-similar relationships between the air concentration and bubble frequency were proposed for each zone.