New insights into the cavitation erosion by bubble collapse at moderate stand-off distances

Non-spherical bubble collapses near solid boundaries, generating water hammer pressures and shock waves, were recognized as key mechanisms for cavitation erosion. However, there is no agreement on local erosion patterns, and cavitation erosion damage lacks quantitative analysis. In our experiments, five distinct local erosion patterns were identified on aluminium sample surfaces, resulting from the collapse of laser-induced cavitation bubbles at moderate stand-off distances of $0.4\leqslant \gamma \leqslant 2.2$ , namely bipolar, monopolar, annular, solar-halo and central. Among them, the bipolar and monopolar patterns exhibit the most severe cavitation erosion when the toroidal bubbles undergo asymmetrical collapse along the circumferential direction during the second cycle. Shadowgraphy visualization revealed that asymmetrical collapse caused shockwave focusing through head-on collision and oblique superposition of wavefronts. This led to the variations in toroidal bubble radii and the positions of maximum erosion depth not matching at certain stand-off distances. Both initial plasma asymmetry and bubble–wall stand-off distance were critical in determining circumferential asymmetrical collapse behaviours. At large initial aspect ratios, the elliptical jet tips form during the contraction process, resulting in the toroidal bubble collapsing from regions with smaller curvature radii, ultimately converging to the colliding point along the circumferential direction. Our three-dimensional simulations using OpenFOAM successfully reproduce the key features of circumferentially asymmetrical bubble collapse. This study provides new insights into the non-spherical near-wall bubble collapse dynamics and provides a foundation for developing predictive models for cavitation erosion.