Bubble dynamics and cavitation damage to curved elastic boundaries

Abstract

Prediction of cavitation damage to the solid boundary is crucial in the application of ultrasound. The goal of this study is to investigate the potential for a cavitation bubble to cause mechanical effects on the curved elastic boundary and contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms of bubble-structure interaction. Effects of the surface curvature of the boundary are studied using the finite volume method. In the oscillatory migration of bubbles to the bottom of the boundary, there are several shape modes at the same time. The wall stress/deformation produced by impinging jets increases with parameter α. The bubble dynamic behaviors and the wall deformation have no significant effect as Young’s modulus equals or exceeds 60 MPa. Boundary deformation generated by tensile and compressive stresses during bubble collapse may be the basic mechanism of cavitation erosion. Due to the lack of visual observation and research on the acoustic cavitation effect, the key mechanism of ultrasonic cavitation is missing. Therefore, the importance of bubble dynamics and cavitation damage in this paper is self-evident