Pattern recognition for bubbly flows with vapor or gas-liquid interfaces using U-Net architecture

Abstract

We apply deep learning algorithms to tackle the bubble recognition task relying on the experimental video recordings of the vapor cavities growing during the water pool boiling due to the heated bottom and an isothermal multiphase flow in a channel. As a basic network architecture we use U-Net with ResNet 34 and ResNet 50 encoders depending on the complexity of the image background. Three classes have been introduced, i.e. the background, bubble and its boundary allowing to post-process some geometric characteristics in a straightforward manner. We demonstrate the capabilities by tracking the growth of an ensemble of vapor bubbles attached to the heater and studying the size distribution of bubbles in a channel.