Role of gas density in the stability of single-bubble sonoluminescence

GPU accelerated numerical investigation of the spherical stability of an acoustic cavitation bubble excited by dual-frequency

The spherical stability of an acoustic cavitation bubble under dual-frequency excitation is investigated numerically. The radial dynamics is described by the Keller-Miksis equation, which is a second-order ordinary differential equation. The surface dynamics is modelled by a set of linear ordinary differential equation according to Hao and Prosperetti (1999), which takes into account the effect of vorticity by boundary layer approximation. Due to the large amount of investigated parameter combinations, the numerical computations were carried out on graphics processing units. The results showed that for bubble size between R_E=2μm and 4μm, the combination of a low and a high frequency, and the combination of two close but not equal frequencies are important to prevent the bubble losing its shape stability, while reaching the chemical threshold (R_max/R_E=3) (Kalmár et al., 2020). The phase shift between harmonic components of dual-frequency excitation has no effect on the shape stability.

Study of non-spherical bubble oscillations under acoustic irradiation in viscous liquid

The effect of dissipation on the shape stability of a harmonically excited bubble is investigated. The employed liquid is the highly viscous glycerine. The rate of the dissipation is controlled through the alteration of viscosity of the liquid by varying its temperature. The mean radius of the bubble during its radial oscillation is described by the Keller-Miksis equation. Two approaches are used to describe the surface oscillations. The first model solves the surface dynamics equations of each mode together with the transport equation of the vorticity in the liquid domain. The second model approximates the transport equation, which is a partial differential equation, with a boundary layer approximation reducing the required computational resources significantly. The comparison of the surface models shows qualitative agreement at low dissipation rate; however, at high viscosity the application of the full transport equation is mandatory. The results show that an increasing rate of dissipation can significantly extend the shape stable domains in the excitation frequency-pressure amplitude parameter plane. Nevertheless, the collapse strength is decreasing due to the highly damped oscillations. It has been found that an optimal range of dissipation rate in terms of temperature can be defined expressing a good compromise between the collapse strength and surface stability. The computations are carried out by an in-house GPU accelerated initial value problem solver.

Saturation of shape instabilities in single-bubble sonoluminescence

Excitation of shape instabilities represents one route to bubble death in single-bubble sonoluminescence. This feature is satisfactorily explained by an expansion to first order in the amplitude of a shape distortion in the form of a spherical harmonic. By taking the expansion to second order, it is found that regions of parameter space exist where the exponential growth into bubble disruption is checked and a saturated stable state of shape distortion is possible. Experimental evidence provided by Mie scattering is presented, and a possible connection to simultaneous spatially anisotropic light emission is discussed.

Nanobubble collapse on a silica surface in water: billion-atom reactive molecular dynamics simulations

Cavitation bubbles occur in fluids subjected to rapid changes in pressure. We use billion-atom reactive molecular dynamics simulations on a 163,840-processor BlueGene/P supercomputer to investigate damage caused by shock-induced collapse of nanobubbles in water near an amorphous silica surface. Collapse of an empty bubble generates a high-speed nanojet, which causes pitting on the silica surface. We find pit radii are close to bubble radii, and experiments also indicate linear scaling between them. The gas-filled bubbles undergo partial collapse and, consequently, the damage on the silica surface is mitigated.

Influence of liquid density on the parametric shape instability of sonoluminescence bubbles in water and sulfuric acid

Parametric shape instability of sonoluminescing argon bubbles in water and aqueous H(2)SO(4) was numerically analyzed considering gas and liquid density variations. The employed model couples Gilmore, Tait (liquid) and van der Waals (gas) equations to simulate radial dynamics and density changes, respectively. Shape stability-instability zones in the P(a)-R(0) space resulted from a linear stability analysis. For the argon-water and argon-water-acid systems, numerical results indicate a rapid rise in both gas and liquid densities during final stages of bubble implosion which result in a stabilizing effect on the parametric instability.

Surface-wave instabilities, period doubling, and an approximate universal boundary of bubble stability at the upper threshold of sonoluminescence

Numerical results are presented for hydrodynamic instabilities surrounding the parameter space of sonoluminescing bubbles. The Rayleigh-Taylor instability is shown to limit bubble oscillations only in a small region near a border at small radii in noisy environments. Also, two different noise-induced instabilities by secondary collapses are identified. The reason for period-doubled, anisotropic emission is found to be the coupling of radial and surface oscillations. Furthermore, an approximate universal border is shown to exist above which the bubble is destroyed by the parametric instability. The results are compared to experimental results from several publications using different experimental setups.

Instability of sonoluminescing bubbles under a nonspherical symmetrical acoustic-pressure perturbation

The perturbation of nonspherical symmetrical acoustic pressure is added to the equation governing the spherical stability of sonoluminescing bubbles. The numerical calculations of the shape instability of sonoluminescing bubbles with the modified equation are conducted and the results are illustrated accordingly in the p(a) - R0 phase diagrams. The calculated results indicate that the stability region vanishes as the amplitude of the driving acoustic pressure p(a) arrives at the upper threshold ( approximately 1.6 atm) due to the perturbation of a small nonspherical symmetrical acoustic pressure (about a few Pa), which is in consistence with the experimental observations.

Direct observation of period-doubled nonspherical states in single-bubble sonoluminescence

We present direct observations of period doubling in the flash to flash pulse heights in single-bubble sonoluminescence. States involved are stable, spherically symmetry broken. Observations are made using seven detectors distributed in the equatorial plane of the bubble. Contrary to earlier experiments by Holt et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1376 (1994)], where period doubling was observed in the time intervals between flashes but not in the pulse heights, we observe period doubling in pulse heights, but no corresponding period doubling is seen in the time intervals. In parameter space the period doubling is observed below the n=2 shape instability boundary line where extinction is shown to take place.