Minimum Internal Pressures in Underwater Explosions and Spark-generated Cavitation Bubbles

Abstract

We propose a simple yet effective method for estimating the minimum internal pressure, denoted as P_{b, min}, within an oscillating bubble at its maximum size. In controlled explosion-generated bubble experiments, P_{b, min} is estimated at approximately 3 000 Pa, with the partial pressure of non-condensable gas being below 1 000 Pa. Numerical simulations using accurate initial parameters derived from P_{b, min} accurately reproduce the bubble behaviors for the first two cycles, particularly the significant energy damping in nonspherical bubbles. For spark-generated cavitation bubbles, increasing the discharge energy from 10 to 62.5 J leads to a reduction in P_{b, min} from approximately 10 000 to 4 000 Pa. The analysis further shows that low P_{b, min} and high m_v/m trigger a violent collapse, leading to a pronounced increase in acoustic radiation, which in turn suppresses the bubble rebound. Within this regime, the radiation is acutely sensitive to variations in both parameters.

Keywords

Bubble dynamics / Cavitation / Internal pressure / Spark-generated bubble / Underwater explosion bubble

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Harbin Engineering University and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature