Dependence of vapor bubble collapse in hot tetradecane on its pressure

Abstract

Specific features of the phenomenon of vapor bubble collapse in hot tetradecane (with a temperature of 663 K) are considered for various values of pressures in the liquid in the range from 13 to 100 bar. At the beginning of the collapse, the vapor in the bubble is in the state of saturation with a pressure of 10.3 bar, and with the initial radius of the bubble to equal 500 µm. It is shown that, at a liquid pressure lower than 13 bar, a nearly-uniform vapor compression is realized in the bubble, whereas at higher pressure values, compression is realized by means of radially converging isentropic waves (at 14–18 bar) and shock waves (starting from 19 bar). The degrees of vapor compression, estimated from the vapor pressure, density and temperature at the boundary of a small central region of the bubble of 0.25-µm radius, are compared with the degrees of vapor compression realized when a similar vapor bubble collapses in cold acetone at a temperature of 273 K (as in known experiments on acoustic cavitation of deuterated acetone). It is found that the degrees of compression comparable with those achieved in the case of acetone at a pressure of 15 bar, equal to the amplitude of the acoustic action exercised in the mentioned experiments, are achieved in the case of tetradecane at a pressure of 70 bar. In the latter case, the maximum rate of bubble collapse in tetradecane is 10 times lower than that in acetone (110 m/s versus 1100 m/s).