Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

1-1-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Physics

Department

Physics and Astronomy

First Advisor

Charles C. Church

Second Advisor

R. Glynn Holt

Third Advisor

Nathan Murray

Relational Format

dissertation/thesis

Abstract

The amplitude of the acoustic pressure required to nucleate a gas and/or vapor bubble in a fluid, and to have that bubble undergo an inertial collapse, is termed the inertial cavitation threshold. The hydrostatic dependence of the inertial cavitation threshold was measured up to 30 MPa in ultrapure water using a high quality factor spherical resonator. The threshold increased linearly with the hydrostatic pressure and was found to be temperature dependent. The strength of the bubble collapse at the threshold was measured in terms of shock waves and light emissions. The shock amplitudes increased linearly with the hydrostatic pressure, while the number of photons increased quadratically. The increase of the collapse strength was attributed to the increased threshold, and therefore to the amount of available acoustic energy.

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