Acoustic radiation of bubble clusters with different volume fractions

Abstract

Cavitation noise, mainly from bubble cluster collapse, is a primary source of noise in underwater equipment. This study aims to elucidate the acoustic characteristics of bubble clusters with varying volume fractions (0.002%–43%), thereby illuminating the noise patterns generated during bubble cluster collapse. With the direct numerical simulation (DNS) method, we simulate the collapse of bubble clusters containing 352 vapor bubbles. Far-field sound pressure was calculated by using the Farassat 1 A integral solution of the Ffowcs Williams–Hawkings (FW–H) equation. The results show that when the volume fraction of bubble clusters is greater than 20%, the higher the volume fraction, the closer the far-field sound pressure radiated by its collapse is to that of the equivalent bubble (whose volume is equal to the volume of the bubble cluster), and when the volume fraction is greater than 30%, the sound pressure of the bubble cluster is basically the same as that of the equivalent bubble. Furthermore, when the volume fraction of bubble clusters is less than 1%, the lower the volume fraction is, the closer the sound pressure obtained through the superposition of a single bubble (each with an initial radius equal to that within clusters and in a free field) is to that of bubble clusters, and when the volume fraction is less than 0.1%, the bubble clusters' sound pressures agree with those obtained through superposition. This study reveals the far-field noise pattern generated by the collapse of bubble clusters, providing a theoretical basis for the prediction of cavitation noise.