Power law modeling of acoustic cavitation erosion: The hemispherical pit model

Abstract

A power law model for cavitation erosion is proposed herein that represents volume loss as the creation and subsequent enlargement of hemispherical pits in the surface of the solid. The cumulative volume loss (CVL) of a material is expressed as an Arrhenius term, containing the energy of pit growth, Epg, multiplied by a power law function with the pit radius growth rate, k, as a prefactor and a time exponent, n. The model is verified through fitting of experimental cavitation erosion data for commercially-available aluminum, copper, and zinc substrates, as well as fitting selected data from the International Cavitation Erosion Test and through comparison with other cumulative volume loss models.