Effect of Surface Material on the Cavitation Erosion Noise: Experimental Investigation

Abstract

Cavitation includes the occurrence, growth and collapse of vapor bubbles in a liquid. Cavitation noise is the sound uttered during the cavitation progress, and it is mainly induced by the collapse of the bubbles. Under certain presuppositions, the micro-jet and micro-shockwave can be produced when the bubbles collapse. The impact of the microjet and micro-shockwave on the surface of material is strong enough to damage the structure of the material and finally erosion takes place. Accordingly, compared with cavitation, the sound emitted during the cavitation erosion progress has a more source that is induced by the vibration of the solid surface when it is attacked by the micro-jet. In this work, the effect of the surface material on the cavitation erosion noise has been studied. Spectrum characteristics obtained for different metal materials: stainless steel, aluminum bronze, bronze, brass (in the same experimental conditions) has also been presented in this paper. The purpose is to validate the contributions of the impact noise to the cavitation noise.