Understanding cavitation bubble collapse and rebound near a solid wall

Abstract

The collapse of cavitation bubbles is known for its intense and aggressive behavior, producing concentrated bursts of energy that can cause erosion, noise, and damage to metallic surfaces and mechanical equipment. However, this concentrated energy also offers significant potential for various applications in biomedical science, industrial engineering, and related technologies. This study presents a comprehensive numerical investigation of the collapse and rebound of cavitation bubbles near a wall using a conservative, compressible multiphase flow model. Laser-generated cavitation bubbles growing, collapsing, and rebounding in distilled water near a wall at three standoff distances were experimentally studied to validate the numerical method. The results show good agreement between the bubble shapes and radii from the numerical simulations and experiments. Additionally, velocity of microjets and thermodynamics of the bubble collapse were validated against the reference data in the literature. Subsequently, the pressure and temperature distributions and jet shapes were examined in detail, exploring the impact of standoff distances ranging from 0.2 to 1.8. A quantitative analysis of the pressure and temperature produced on the wall, as well as the jet velocity and bubble movement during the collapse, was systematically conducted. Jet velocities observed ranged from 30 m/s to 130 m/s, and numerical simulations were compared with experimental data from the literature, showing good agreement. Maximum temperature and pressure induced at the wall center can reach up to 616.2 K and 139.5 MPa, respectively. The detailed analyses in this study provide significant insights into the behavior of cavitation bubbles and the effect of standoff distance on their collapse and rebound near a wall.