Memory effect and redistribution of cavitation nuclei in a thin liquid layer

•The disappearance and inception processes of the metastable cavitaton structures in the thin liquid layer are investigated.•The two-dimensional nature of thin liquid layer brings about a long-term memory effect for a several-second duration.•The cavitation nuclei can be redistributed by the moving cavitation cluster.•A factor which weakens the memory effect is identified.

Temporal evolution and spatial distribution of acoustic cavitation structures in a thin liquid layer were investigated experimentally with high-speed photography. The inception and disappearance processes of cavitation bubble cloud revealed that the metastable cavitaton structures formed in the thin liquid layer caused a long-term “memory effect”. A factor which weakens the memory effect was identified. The distribution of cavitation nuclei was investigated by changing the temporal decay of the memory effect.