Cavitation Bubble Dynamics inside Liquid Drops in Microgravity

D. Obreschkow, P. Kobel, N. Dorsaz, A. de Bosset, C. Nicollier, and M. Farhat

Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 094502 – Published 1 September 2006

Abstract

We studied spark-generated cavitation bubbles inside water drops produced in microgravity. High-speed visualizations disclosed unique effects of the spherical and nearly isolated liquid volume. In particular, (1) toroidally collapsing bubbles generate two liquid jets escaping from the drop, and the “splash jet” discloses a remarkable broadening. (2) Shock waves induce a strong form of secondary cavitation due to the particular shock wave confinement. This feature offers a novel way to estimate integral shock wave energies in isolated volumes. (3) Bubble lifetimes in drops are shorter than in extended volumes in remarkable agreement with herein derived corrective terms for the Rayleigh-Plesset equation.

Received 16 April 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.094502

Authors & Affiliations

D. Obreschkow^1,2, P. Kobel^1,3, N. Dorsaz^1,4, A. de Bosset¹, C. Nicollier⁵, and M. Farhat¹

¹Laboratoire des Machines Hydrauliques, EPFL, 1007 Lausanne, Switzerland
²Physics Department, Oxford University, Oxford, OX1 3PU, United Kingdom
³Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, 37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
⁴Institut Romand de Recherche Numérique en Physique des Matériaux, EPFL, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
⁵ESA European Astronaut Centre, Cologne, Germany, and NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA

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Vol. 97, Iss. 9 — 1 September 2006

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