Some aspects of the motion of two laser-produced cavitation bubbles near a free surface

Abstract

The motion of two cavitation bubbles produced by lasers near a free surface was studied experimentally using high-speed photography. It was found that different types of behaviour occurred when two cavitation bubbles collapsed near a free surface depending on the bubble size ratio and the inter-bubble and bubble-boundary distances. These factors influenced the pattern of the motion of the two bubbles, resulting in several modes of jet formation. Two liquid jets were formed in each bubble, advancing in opposite directions and impacting each other. When a much smaller bubble collapsed near a large bubble, a pinch-off phenomenon occurred, following the separation of the smaller bubble in two parts. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.