Dynamic behaviors of a bubble near a rectangular wall with a bulge

Abstract

In this paper, the cavitation bubble dynamics near a rectangular wall with a bulge are theoretically investigated. High-speed photography is employed to provide experimental verification of the theoretical results. Through a series of conformal transformations and the image method, the analytical description of how this complex wall configuration affects the bubble is shown to be equivalent to the superposition of eight virtual bubbles. The physical meaning of the eight virtual bubbles can be divided into four groups, corresponding to the influence of the left wall, the bottom wall, the angle formed by the two flat walls, and the bulge. The influence of the bulge on the liquid velocity distribution, as well as the intensity and direction of the Kelvin impulse exerted on the bubble, is explored for cases in which the bubble is located at symmetric and asymmetric positions. The main findings are given as follows: During the bubble collapse, a high-velocity area of the liquid exists to the side of the bubble farthest from the bulge, and three stagnation points with three low-velocity areas appear on the bulge surface. The bulge mainly influences the impulse intensity when the bubble is located near the symmetric position. The existence of the bulge causes the impulse angle to attain a minimum as the distance between the bubble and the bulge increases. For a larger bulge radius, the changes in the impulse angle become more complicated as the bubble position angle increases.