Simultaneous shadowgraph imaging and acceleration pulse measurement of cavitating jet

• Cavitation structure and erosion characteristics are studied in cavitating jet.
• Shadowgraph and acceleration pulse are simultaneously evaluated.
• Cavitation collapse is detected by time-difference analysis of shadowgraphs.
• Time-difference analysis of shadowgraphs reproduces erosion rate distribution.

The variations of cloud structure and erosion characteristics of a cavitating jet are experimentally studied by optical and SEM microscope observations, measurement of erosion characteristics and simultaneous shadowgraph imaging combined with the acceleration pulse measurement. The time difference image analysis of the shadowgraphs allows the detection of the near-wall collapsed bubbles in the periodic development of the cavitating jet, while the simultaneous acceleration pulse measurement indicates the generation of acceleration pulses at the same instant of bubble collapse near specimen surface. These results indicate that the generation of acceleration pulses are highly correlated with the collapsed bubbles behind the cloud in the shrinking motion, which triggers the cavitation bubble collapse and leads to the erosion damage on the specimen. It is found from the image analysis that the erosion distributions on the test specimen are well reproduced in the time-difference images of the shadowgraphs, which indicates the sudden intensity growth near the wall due to the cavitation collapse. This result suggests that the collapse of the cavitation bubbles near the specimen surface is correlated with the erosion distribution on the specimen surface in the cavitating jet.