Spherical vapour bubble collapse

An experimental study of spherical vapour bubble collapse in uniformly subcooled water has been performed, and data have been obtained on bubble radius and pressure histories for subcoolings up to 60°C. A theoretical incompressible equilibrium model of spherical collapse in an infinite sea geometry utilising a finite difference technique to solve the heat conduction equations has been developed, and the predictions are shown to agree with the experimental radius and pressure histories to within 30 per cent, subject to the bubble pressure not exceeding the critical pressure of water. The discrepancies are accounted for in terms of the restricted geometry of the experimental vessel.The noise spectra generated by bubble rebound are shown to extend to beyond 100 kHz in water subcoolings above 40°C.