On Some Aspects of Steam Bubble Collapse

Abstract

Further consideration is given to the problem of the collapse of a vapor bubble, with the bubble initially in equilibrium with an isothermal liquid of infinite extent and with the collapse produced by a sudden increase in the pressure at infinity. In the numerical analysis, made for a steam bubble surrounded by water, the energy equation is solved in finite increments rather than by use of the Plesset-Zwick method, and comparisons are made to the results of the latter method as used by Florschuetz and Chao. The assumption of zero vapor velocity is also replaced by an alternative hypothesis which allows vapor motion, and this alternative approach yields a prediction of an oscillatory collapse rather than the relatively monotonic collapse indicated by the former assumption.