The behaviours of bubble-induced turbulence (BIT) have been demonstrated to be different from the homogeneous isotropic single-phase turbulence on the turbulence energy spectrum. The description of bubble/eddy-bubble collision to cause bubble coalescence and breakage are usually based on the classical Kolmogorov − 5/3 scaling law for the inertial subrange of the turbulence energy spectrum function. This approximation may no longer be appropriate for modelling the gas–liquid flow in the bubble columns as a large amount of turbulence eddies is generated by the BIT. Therefore, the present work focuses on the influence of κ⁻³ scaling of the BIT energy spectrum on the bubble coalescence due to bubble–bubble collision under turbulence and the breakage due to the eddy-bubble collision in bubble columns. A modified bubble coalescence and breakage model accounting for the BIT is proposed. The proposed coalescence and breakage model considers the mean turbulent velocity of eddies under the influence of bubble-induced turbulence and the characteristic wavenumber/length scale that corresponds to the BIT. A comparison of the simulation results with the experimental data clearly demonstrates that the modified bubble coalescence and breakage model appropriately describes the bubble coalescence and breakage events occurring under the influence of BIT in bubble columns.

在湍流能谱上，气泡诱导湍流（BIT）的行为与均质各向同性单相湍流不同。气泡/涡流碰撞引起气泡聚结和破裂的描述通常基于经典的Kolmogorov-5/3比例定律，用于湍流能谱函数的惯性子范围。由于BIT产生了大量的湍流涡流，因此这种近似可能不再适合于对气泡塔中的气液流动建模。因此，目前的工作重点是影响κ ^-3湍流下的气泡-气泡碰撞和气泡柱中的涡-气泡碰撞导致的破裂导致的气泡结合处的BIT能量谱的标度。提出了一种修正的考虑到BIT的气泡合并和破裂模型。提出的合并和破裂模型考虑了在气泡引起的湍流和对应于BIT的特征波数/长度尺度的影响下涡流的平均湍流速度。仿真结果与实验数据的比较清楚地表明，改进的气泡聚结和破裂模型适当地描述了在气泡塔中BIT的影响下发生的气泡聚结和破裂事件。