Simulation of bubble oscillations in cavitation-induced acoustic fields

Abstract

Understanding bubble oscillations is critical in science, engineering and medicine. An important aspect of bubble dynamics is the transition from spherical to non-spherical oscillations when the bubble is subjected to external stimuli like time-dependent pressure fields. The mechanisms underpinning this process are not well understood for the complex pressure fields encountered in most applications. Here, we perform high-fidelity numerical simulations of the oscillations of a non-condensable gas bubble induced by the acoustic field generated by the collapse of a nearby cavitation bubble. We compare our simulation results with controlled laboratory experiments and demonstrate that our computational approach predicts spatial and temporal bubble oscillation patterns. This work opens new opportunities to understand the oscillation of bubbles induced by complex acoustic fields.