Cavitation induced by low-speed underwater impact

Abstract

The subject of cavitation, that is, the formation and subsequent dynamics of voids within a liquid, has intrigued scientists for centuries, as can be readily seen from the large number of publications on this topic (comprehensive overviews are given, e.g., by Young or Lauterborn et al. [1, 2]). Hydrodynamic cavitation, which is found in fluid machinery or, more generally, in systems where the liquid is accelerated to high fluid velocities, is arguably the most obvious and possibly best known form of this phenomenon. Generally, voids in a liquid can be generated by the application of tension or through the localized deposit of energy [2]. Typically, tension is applied either through hydrodynamic forces in flowing systems (hydrodynamic cavitation) or through pressure and/or tension waves generated in a macroscopically static liquid (acoustic cavitation).