Approximate methods for modelling cavitation bubbles near boundaries

Abstract

Approximate methods are developed for modelling the growth and collapse of clouds of cavitation bubbles near an infinite and semi-infinite rigid boundary, a cylinder, between two flat plates and in corners and near edges formed by planar boundaries. Where appropriate, comparisons are made between this approximate method and the more accurate boundary integral methods used in earlier calculations. It is found that the influence of nearby bubbles can be more important than the presence of boundaries. In confined geometries, such as a cylinder, or a cloud of bubbles, the effect of the volume change due to growth or collapse of the bubble can be important at much larger distances. The method provides valuable insight into bubble cloud phenomena.