Effects of medium viscoelasticity on bubble collapse strength of interacting polydisperse bubbles

Due to its physical and/or chemical effects, acoustic cavitation plays a crucial role in various emerging applications ranging from advanced materials to biomedicine. The cavitation bubbles usually undergo oscillatory dynamics and violent collapse within a viscoelastic medium, which are closely related to the cavitation-associated effects. However, the role of medium viscoelasticity on the cavitation dynamics has received little attention, especially for the bubble collapse strength during multi-bubble cavitation with the complex interactions between size polydisperse bubbles. In this study, modified Gilmore equations accounting for inter-bubble interactions were coupled with the Zener viscoelastic model to simulate the dynamics of multi-bubble cavitation in viscoelastic media. Results showed that the cavitation dynamics (e.g., acoustic resonant response, nonlinear oscillation behavior and bubble collapse strength) of differently-sized bubbles depend differently on the medium viscoelasticity and each bubble is affected by its neighboring bubbles to a different degree. More specifically, increasing medium viscosity drastically dampens the bubble dynamics and weakens the bubble collapse strength, while medium elasticity mainly affects the bubble resonance at which the bubble collapse strength is maximum. Differently-sized bubbles can achieve resonances and even subharmonic resonances at high driving acoustic pressures as the elasticity changes to certain values, and the resonance frequency of each bubble increases with the elasticity increasing. For the interactions between the size polydisperse bubbles, it indicated that the largest bubble generally has a dominant effect on the dynamics of smaller ones while in turn it is almost unaffected, exhibiting a pattern of destructive and constructive interactions. This study provides a valuable insight into the acoustic cavitation dynamics of multiple interacting polydisperse bubbles in viscoelastic media, which may offer a potential of controlling the medium viscoelasticity to appropriately manipulate the dynamics of multi-bubble cavitation for achieving proper cavitation effects according to the desired application.     

The impact of methanol mass transport on its conversion for the production of hydrogen and oxygenated reactive species in sono-irradiated aqueous solution

This study aims principally to assess numerically the impact of methanol mass transport (i.e., evaporation/condensation across the acoustic bubble wall) on the thermodynamics and chemical effects (methanol conversion, hydrogen and oxygenated reactive species production) of acoustic cavitation in sono-irradiated aqueous solution. This effect was revealed at various ultrasound frequencies (from 213 to 1000 kHz) and acoustic intensities (1 and 2 W/cm²) over a range of methanol concentrations (from 0 to 100%, v/v). It was found that the impact of methanol concentration on the expansion and compression ratios, bubble temperature, CH₃OH conversion and the molar productions inside the bubble is frequency dependent (either with or without consideration of methanol mass transport), where this effect is more pronounced when the ultrasound frequency is decreased. Alternatively, the decrease in acoustic intensity decreases clearly the effect of methanol mass transport on the bubble sono-activity. When methanol mass transfer is eliminated, the decrease of the bubble temperature, CH₃OH conversion and the molar yield of the bubble with the rise of methanol concentration was found to be more amortized as the wave frequency is reduced from 1 MHz to 213 kHz, compared to the case when the mass transport of methanol is taken into account. Our findings indicate clearly the importance of incorporating the evaporation and condensation mechanisms of methanol throughout the numerical simulations of a single bubble dynamics and chemical activity.     

Near threshold nucleation and growth of cavitation bubbles generated with a picosecond laser

The nucleation and growth of cavitation bubbles few micrometers in size in water generated by a 60 ps 515 nm fiber laser is observed and visualized near nucleation threshold. The study is performed by monitoring the plasma size, the cavitation bubble size and the emitted shock waves. The latter two aspects are supported by the Gilmore model using a Noble-Abel-stiffened-gas (NASG) equations of state. For the first time, two types of cavitation events are identified and visualized that exhibit a difference of more than two orders of magnitude in the excitation energy converted to mechanical effects with minimal change in excitation laser pulse energy. The result is localized cavitation and reduced mechanical stress on water-based media with potentially positive implications for laser treatments of biological tissue.     

Theoretical prediction of the scattering of spherical bubble clusters under ultrasonic excitation

Due to the nonlinear vibration of ultrasound contrast agent bubbles, a nonlinear scattered sound field will be generated when bubbles are driven by ultrasound. A bubble cluster consists of numerous bubbles gathering in a spherical space. It has been noted that the forward scattering of a bubble cluster is larger than its backscattering, and some studies have experimentally found the angular dependence of a bubble cluster’s scattering signal. In this paper, a theory is proposed to explain the difference of acoustic scattering at different directions of a bubble cluster when it is driven by ultrasound, and predicts the angular distribution of scattered acoustic pressure under different parameters. The theory is proved to be correct under circumstances of small clusters and weak interactions by comparing theoretical results with numerical simulations. This theory not only sheds light on the physics of bubble cluster scattering, but also may contribute to the improvement of ultrasound imaging technology, including ultrasonic harmonic imaging and contrast-enhanced ultrasonography.     

Ethanoled gasoline bubble pressure determination: Experimental and Monte Carlo modeling

In this work, we present some experimental and modeling studies of ethanoled gasoline bubble pressures (ethanol + gasoline blends) at various temperatures and ethanol contents. Modelings are carried out using Monte Carlo simulations in a specific bubble-point pseudo ensemble and using the AUA4 force field. This method is first validated on the prediction of binary mixture bubble pressures (ethanol + n-hexane, ethanol + propylene, ethanol + toluene, ethanol + isooctane). It is shown that a good accuracy is reached without introducing empirical binary interaction parameter, demonstrating the predictivity of the approach. Then, simulations of ethanoled gasolines have been performed. The molecular representation of the gasoline is obtained using a lumping scheme from the detailed composition of a commercial gasoline. Simulation results are compared to experimental bubble pressures measured in this work on this commercial gasoline in which various proportions of ethanol have been added. From a qualitative point of view, the azeotropic behavior of such fuels is observed both experimentally and by simulations. From a quantitative point of view, an average deviation of 15% between experimental and simulation data is found. Such results show that Monte Carlo simulation using an accurate force field is an efficient method to predict phase equilibrium of complex mixtures such as oxygenated gasolines. This methodology can thus be seen as an efficient tool that can be used by engineers for fuel formulation or for equation of state or process model calibration.     

A variational multiscale method based on bubble functions for convection-dominated convection-diffusion equation

This work presents a variational multiscale method based on polynomial bubble functions as subgrid scale and a numerical implementation based on two local Gauss integrations. This method can be implemented easily and efficiently for the convection-dominated problem. Static condensation of the bubbles suggests the stability of the method and we establish its global convergence. Representative numerical tests are presented.     

Numerical modelling of EHD effects on heat transfer and bubble shapes of nucleate boiling

In this article, mathematical and numerical models are developed to study pure electrohydrodynamic (EHD) effects on heat transfer and bubble shapes when an initial bubble attached to a superheated horizontal wall in nucleate boiling. In the modelling of EHD effects on heat transfer, an undeformed bubble is considered; the electric body force and Joule heat are added to the momentum and energy equations; governing equations for heat, fluid flow and electric fields are coupled numerically and solved using a non-orthogonal body-fitted mesh system with necessary interfacial treatments at the gas–liquid boundary. While, to study the pure effect of EHD on the deformation of the bubble, the evaluation of a deformable bubble without heat transfer is simulated by volume of fluid (VOF) method based on an axial symmetric Cartesian coordinate system. The simulations indicate that EHD can effectively enhance heat transfer rate of nucleate boiling by influencing the motion of the ring vortex around the bubble and that bubble can be elongated due to the pull in axial direction and push in the negative radial direction by the electric field force.     

Cavitation clusters in lipid systems – Ring-up,bubble population,and bifurcated streamer lifetime

The processing of oils is vital to their ultimate use within the food industry. Control over the physical properties of such materials could be achieved through the application of high-intensity ultrasound (HIU). However, the exact mechanism, centred upon acoustic cavitation, is currently unclear. To investigate the cavitation environment in oils further, the ring-up of a HIU source in an oil media is studied in the presence and absence of a pre-existing bubble population. High-speed imaging and acoustic measurements within the system is demonstrated to be extremely useful in characterising the dynamics present under non steady-state conditions. The behaviour of the clusters generated in the first 1000 ms under these conditions is shown to be significantly different depending on the bubble population. A bifurcated streamer (BiS), originating from a unique bi-cluster event, is only observable in the presence of a bubble population during the ring-up process to higher cluster orders. In addition, the lifetime of this BiS event is highly temperature dependent and is shown to be a good marker for the viscosity of the oil employed.     

A dynamic mathematical test of international property securities bubbles and crashes

This study investigates property securities bubbles and crashes by using a dynamic mathematical methodology developed from the previous research (Watanabe et al. 2007a, b [31] and [32]). The improved model is used to detect the bubble and crash periods in five international countries/cities (namely, United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore) from Jan, 2000 to Oct, 2008. By this model definition, we are able to detect the beginning of each bubble period even before it bursts. Meanwhile, the empirical results show that most of property securities markets experienced bubble periods between 2003 and 2007, and crashes happened in Apr 2008 triggered by the Subprime Mortgage Crisis of US. In contrast, Japan suffered the shortest bubble period and no evidence has documented the existence of crash there.     

Bubble behaviors of geldart B particle in a pseudo two-dimensional pressurized fluidized bed

Pressurized fluidized beds have been developed in quite a few industrial applications because of intensified heat and mass transfer and chemical reaction. The bubble behaviors under elevated pressure, strongly influencing the fluidization and reaction conversion of the whole system, are of great research significance. In this work, the bubble behaviors of Geldart B particle in a pseudo two-dimensional (2D) pressurized fluidized bed were experimentally studied based on digital image analysis technique. The effects of pressure and fluidization gas velocity on the general bubble behaviors (i.e., size, shape and spatial distribution) and the dynamic characteristics, such as the time-evolution of voidage distribution and local flow regimes, were comprehensively investigated. Results show that increasing pressure reduces the stability of bubbles and facilitates gas passing through the emulsion phase, resulting in the “smoother” fluidization state with smaller bubbles and declined bubble fraction and standard deviation. The equivalent bubble diameter and bubble aspect ratio increase with the increasing gas velocity while decrease as pressure rises. The elevated pressure reduces bubbles extension in the vertical direction, prohibits the “short pass” of fluidization gas in large oblong bubbles/slugs and benefits the gas–solid interaction. The flow regimes variation with gas velocity is affected by the elevated pressure, and demonstrates different features in different local positions of the bed.