Cavity collapse in a liquid with solid particles

Abstract

An experimental study of the interaction of weak shock waves in a liquid with bubbles and solid particles has been conducted. Cavities were punched, and solid particles were cast, into a thin sheet of gelatine clamped between two transparent blocks. A shock of pressure 0.3 GPa was introduced by impacting the gelatine layer with a flyer plate. The subsequent collapse of the cavities was photographed using high-speed framing cameras, and waves in the gelatine were visualized using schlieren optics. Assorted cavity/particle geometries were studied. In the first, cavity and particle were aligned on an axis parallel to the incident shock front. The jet crossing the cavity was found to deviate from the perpendicular to the shock front. This deviation was towards the solid particle when separations were small and away from the particle when separations were increased. When a cavity was placed upstream of a solid particle the collapse time was reduced. Conversely, when a cavity was placed downstream of a solid particle, collapse time was increased and the closure was more symmetrical. These observations were explained in terms of wave reflections. Collapses where the cavity/particle axis was inclined to the incident shock showed features of each of the geometries described above.