Cavitation bubble near a wall: Sensitivity to modeling conditions

Abstract

Cavitation near solid surfaces is a critical phenomenon due to its potential to damage materials and impair the performance of machinery such as pumps and turbines. Previous studies have employed compressible multiphase solvers to simulate the collapse of cavitation bubbles near walls, often using equivalent radius as a key parameter for validation. In this work, we aim to deepen the understanding of modeling cavitation bubble dynamics by comparing two approaches: (i) the Volume-of-Fluid (VoF) method with the All-Mach approach and (ii)  the Level-Set method with Euler equations. The simulations are conducted using Basilisk and M2C, respectively, two open-source solvers that leverage adaptive meshes on the one hand and multiphysics on the other hand for high-resolution computations that can tackle complementary regimes. A novel aspect of this study is the simulation of bubble dynamics starting from the breakdown phase, which provides a more comprehensive understanding of the collapse process. Our results indicate that while the equivalent radius shows limited sensitivity to modeling conditions, the maximum wall pressure is strongly dependent on the modeling assumptions for the bubble dynamics. By comparing the simulation results to experimental measurements and visualizations, we evaluate the accuracy and applicability of the two approaches under various conditions. This study provides new insights into the sensitivity of cavitation bubble collapse to modeling conditions.