Designers of all types of equipment applied in oxygenation and aeration need to get to know the mechanism behind the gas bubble formation. This paper presents a measurement method used for determination of parameters of bubbles forming at jet attachment from which the bubles are displaced upward. The measuring system is based on an optical tomograph containing five projections. An image from the tomograph contains shapes of the forming bubbles and determine their volumes and formation rate. Additionally, this paper presents selected theoretical models known from literature. The measurement results have been compared with simple theoretical models predictions. The paper also contains a study of the potential to apply the presented method for determination of bubble structures and observation of intermediate states.

An optical tomograph in which a tested object is illuminated from five directions has been presented in the paper. The measurements of luminous intensity after changing into discrete signals (0 or 1) in the detectors equipped with 64 optical sensors were subjected to reconstruction by means of the matrix algorithm. Detailed description of the measuring sensor, as well as the principles of operation of the electronic system, has been given in the paper. Optical phenomena occurring at the phase boundary while transmitted through the sensor wall and phenomena inside the measuring space have also been taken into account. The method of the sensor calibration has been analysed and a way of technical solution of the problem under consideration has been discussed. The elaborated method has been tested using objects of the known shape and dimensions. It was found that reconstruction of the shapes of moving bubbles and determination of their main parameters is also possible with a reasonable accuracy.