A discussion on deformation of solids by the impact of liquids, and its relation to rain damage in aircraft and missiles, to blade erosion in steam turbines, and to cavitation erosion - The collapse of cavitation bubbles and the pressures thereby produced against solid boundaries

Our object is to present a broad review of this subject as a branch of hydrodynamics, referring both to the well known ‘implosion’ mechanism first analysed by Lord Rayleigh and, more particularly, to the recently perceived possibility that effects of equally great violence, such as to damage solid boundaries, may arise through the impact of liquid jets formed by collapsing cavities. In §2 a few practical facts about cavitation damage are recalled by way of background, and then in §3 the significance of available theoretical and experimental information about cavity collapse is discussed. The main exposition of new ideas is in §4, which is a review of the factors contributing to shape changes and eventual jet formation by collapsing cavities. Finally, in §5, some new experimental observations on the unsymmetrical collapse of vapour-filled cavities are presented.