Study of surface tension effects on near-wall cavitation bubble collapse with a pseudopotential lattice Boltzmann model

Abstract

A lattice Boltzmann pseudopotential cavitation model with tunable surface tension and large density and viscosity coefficient ratios was used to simulate near-wall cavitation bubble collapse. The influences of the surface tension, bubble–wall distance, and initial pressure difference on the flow field distribution were analyzed, and the relationships between the surface tension and maximum micro-jet and collapse pressure were investigated. The results indicated that a lower surface tension intensifies the deformation of the gas–liquid interface, resulting in a more concentrated micro-jet. In addition, more surface energy is accumulated during cavitation bubble collapse for higher surface tension, strengthening the collapse intensity and increasing the maximum micro-jet velocity and collapse pressure. The time interval between the first and second pressure peaks increases with increasing wall distance. Because of the non-linear attenuation during pressure propagation, the value of the second peak decreases with increasing wall distance. Increasing the initial pressure difference leads to slower growth in the micro-jet velocity and faster growth in the collapse pressure with increasing bubble–wall distance. In addition, increasing the initial pressure difference for the same bubble–wall distance also slows the growth in the micro-jet velocity and increases the growth in the collapse pressure caused by increasing surface tension.