Numerical Study of the Pulsation Process of Spark Bubbles under Three Boundary Conditions

Abstract

In this study, a compressible three-phase homogeneous model was established using ABAQUS/Explicit. These models can numerically simulate the pulsation process of cavitation bubbles in the free field, near the flat plate target, and near the curved boundary target. At the same time, these models can numerically simulate the strong nonlinear interaction between the cavitation bubble and its nearby wall boundaries. The mutual flow of liquid and gas and fluid solid coupling were solved by the Euler domain in simulation. The results of the numerical simulation were verified by comparing them with the experimental results. In this study, we used electric spark bubbles to represent cavitation bubbles. A high-speed camera was used to record the pulsation process of cavitation bubbles. This study first verified the pulsation process of cavitation bubbles in the free field, because it was the simplest case. Then we verified the interaction process between cavitation bubbles and different wall boundaries. In order to further confirm the credibility of the numerical simulation results, for each wall surface, this study used two burst distances (10 mm and 25 mm) for simulation verification. The numerical model established in this study could effectively simulate the pulsation characteristics of cavitation bubbles, such as the formation of jets and annular bubbles. After verification, the simulated cavitation bubble was almost the same as the cavitation bubble captured by the high-speed camera in the experiment in terms of time, volume, and shape. In this study, a detailed velocity field of the cavitation bubble collapse stage was obtained, which laid down the foundation for the study of the strong nonlinear interaction between the cavitation bubble and the target plates of different shapes. Compared with the experimental results, we found that the numerical model established by the simulation could accurately simulate the bubble pulsation and jet formation processes. In the experiment, the interval time for the bubble pictures taken by the high-speed camera was 41.66 μs per frame. Using a numerical model, the bubble pulsation process can be simulated at an interval of 1 µs per frame. Therefore, the numerical model established by the simulation could show the movement characteristics of the cavitation bubble pulsation process in more detail.