The turbulent flow field (Re = 60024) in the wake of a cylindrical bluff body in a 0.105 m internal diameter pipe with an area blockage ratio of 82% in turbulent single-phase flow was studied using laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV). The results for the time-averaged velocity showed a toroidal vortex below the bluff body. The axial location below the bluff body where both the time-averaged radial and axial velocity components were zero (eye of the vortex) was found at approximately 0.72D. The end of the re-circulation region as defined by a stagnation point on the centreline of the pipe was found at an axial location below the bluff body of approximately 1.3D. These two locations did not change when altering the liquid superficial velocity confirming that the geometry (i.e., size) of the toroidal vortex is not dependent on the superficial liquid velocity or the speed of the vortex. Similar measurements using LDV were taken in the wake of a ventilated cavity in a vertical 0.105 m internal diameter pipe, with an area blockage ratio of 80%. The flow beneath the cavity was turbulent two-phase bubbly flow and the liquid-only flow ahead of the cavity was turbulent (Re = 45618). The cavity was attached to a (central) sparger, which is a scale-up of the design used by Bacon (1995). The average gas void fraction in the wake of the cavity was 7%. The results for the time-averaged velocity confirmed the formation of a toroidal vortex remarkably similar to the vortex formed below the bluff body. The eye of the vortex and the end of the re-circulation region were found at an axial location below the ventilated cavity of 0.78 and 1.35D, respectively, i.e., almost identical to the results for the bluff body. The LDV results of the cylindrical bluff body and the ventilated cavity were compared with the fully predictive model of the velocity distribution in the vortex proposed by Thorpe et al. (2001) and good agreement was found in both cases. The model also agreed well with the data of van Hour et al. (2002) for a Taylor bubble rising in stagnant liquid in a 0.025 m internal diameter pipe. The CFX simulations of Thorpe et al. (2001) carried out for a 0.050 m internal diameter pipe, agreed well with the experimental data of the cylindrical bluff body, the ventilated cavity and the data obtained by van Hour et al. (2002) when correlating the results in the appropriate dimensionless form. Our analysis showed that the maximum axial re-circulation velocity in the centre of the vortex ring was directly proportional to the mean velocity in the annulus at the base of the cylindrical bluff body, the ventilated cavity or the Taylor bubble. The proportionality constant for all cases was found to be approximately 0.38 confirming the value proposed by Thorpe et al. (2001). (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.