Experimental Study on the Impact Characteristics of Cavitation Bubble Collapse on a Wall

As a hydrodynamic phenomenon, cavitation is a main concern in many industries such as water conservancy, the chemical industry and medical care. There are many studies on the generation, development and collapse of cavitation bubbles, but there are few studies on the variation of the cyclic impact strength on walls from the collapse of cavitation bubbles. In this paper, a high-speed dynamic acquisition and analysis system and a pressure measuring system are combined to study the impact of a cavitation bubble generated near a wall for various distances between the cavitation bubble and the wall. The results show that (1) with the discriminating criteria of the impact pressure borne by the wall, the critical conditions for the generation of a micro-jet in the collapse process of the cavitation bubbles are obtained, and therefore collapses of cavitation bubbles near the wall are mainly divided into primary impact area collapses, secondary impact area collapses and slow release area collapses; (2) it can be seen from the impact strength of the cavitation bubble collapse on the wall surface that the impact of cavitation bubbles on the wall surface during the first collapse decreases as γ (the dimensionless distance between the cavitation bubble and the wall) increases, but the impact of the second collapse on the wall surface increases first and then decreases sharply. When γ is less than 1.33, the impact on the wall surface is mainly from the first collapse. When γ is between 1.33 and 2.37, the impact on the wall surface is mainly from the second collapse. These conclusions have potential theoretical value for the utilization or prevention and control technologies for cavitation erosion.