High-speed film-thickness measurements between a collapsing cavitation bubble and a solid surface with total internal reflection shadowmetry

Abstract

The time evolution of the liquid-film thickness of a single cavitation bubble in water collapsing onto a solid surface is measured. To this end, total internal reflection (TIR) shadowmetry is developed, a technique based on TIR and the imaging of shadows of an optical structure on a polished glass surface. The measurements are performed at frame rates up to 480 kHz. Simultaneous high-speed imaging of the bubble shape at up to 89 kHz allows relating the evolution of the film thickness to the bubble dynamics. With a typical maximum bubble radius of 410 μm, we varied the nondimensional stand-off distance γ from 0.47 to 1.07. We find that during the first collapse phase, the bubble does not come in direct contact with the solid surface. Instead, when the bubble collapses, the jet impacts on a liquid film that always resides between the bubble and solid. At jet impact, it is 5-40 μm thick, depending on γ. Also, during rebound, at any given point in time, most or all of the then overall toroidal bubble is not in contact with the solid surface.