Injecting superheated water vapour bubbles into a sub-cooled shear flow will induce heat and mass transfer in the form of condensation. Of particular interest is finding the characteristic role that the large-scale vortex structures play on bubble condensation. Because the heat transfer and condensation take place mainly due to convection, the bubble is expected to collapse at an earlier stage because of the trapping by large-scale vortices. The aim of this paper is to investigate two-way thermal and momentum interaction between bubbles and the large-scale coherent structures in a plane turbulent shear layer, focusing on the effect of bubble condensation on large-scale vortex structures embedded in plane, free shear layers. The parameters such as initial bubble temperature, bubble injection location, and carrier fluid temperature have been chosen to examine their effects on the condensation and dispersion of bubbles. Because superheated vapour bubbles immersed within a sub-cooled shear flow field experience heat transfer, the gas phase will certainly condense into liquid if these bubbles remain surrounded long enough by this same sub-cooled liquid. Accordingly, bubble condensation is evident within the shear layer and bubble dispersion is influenced by the large-scale vortex structures. The main driving force behind complete bubble condensation was the difference in temperature between the bubble vapour and the carrier fluid. It was revealed that the effect of the large-scale vortex structures is that the condensed bubbles acquire a larger dispersion than bubbles that were not subject to thermal coupling. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.