THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

Mei Li

,

Liting Li

,

Yan Wu

,

Junqiang Hu

,

Gang Liang

,

Junjie Xu

,

Yuqi Huang

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF NEAR-WALL BUBBLE COLLAPSE UNDER WALL VIBRATION

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the dynamic behaviors of a single near-wall bubble collapse under various operating conditions, specifically focusing on the effects of wall vibration, vibration frequency, and stand-off distance. The primary objective is to reveal the underlying mechanisms of how vibration influences the collapse process and to provide insights for developing effective cavitation suppression technologies. To achieve this, a two-phase flow numerical simulation coupled with fluid-structure interaction was employed. The Volume of Fluid method was used to track the bubble interface, while the finite volume method was applied to solve the governing equations. The results demonstrate that bubble collapse near a vibrating wall exerts a more pronounced impact than near a static wall, characterized by an accelerated collapse process, a smaller minimum volume, and a higher instantaneous peak temperature. Furthermore, higher vibration frequencies lead to a more rapid contraction and a significantly more intense pressure impulse on the solid boundary. Additionally, reducing the initial stand-off distance continuously increases the severity of the peak impulsive pressure sustained by the wall. The findings provide a theoretical foundation for understanding cavitation erosion mechanisms and developing effective cavitation suppression technologies.
KEYWORDS
Bubble collapse, Wall vibration, Stand-off distance, fluid-structure interaction, volume of fluid, Vibration frequency
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2026-04-08
PAPER REVISED: 2026-05-19
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2026-05-26
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2026-06-20
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI260408081L
REFERENCES
[1] Arndt R E A. Cavitation in fluid machinery and hydraulic structures. Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, 1981, 13(1): 273-326
[2] Lauterborn W, Bolle H. Experimental investigations of cavitation-bubble collapse in the neighbourhood of a solid boundary. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1975, 72(2): 391-399
[3] Ohl C D, Kurz T, Geisler R, et al. Bubble dynamics, shock waves and sonoluminescence[J]. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 1999, 357(1751): 269-294
[4] Gonzalez-avila S R, Denner F, Ohl C D. The acoustic pressure generated by the cavitation bubble expansion and collapse near a rigid wall. Physics of Fluids, 2021, 33(3): 032118
[5] Lei H, Mindi Z, Zhenkun T, et al. Investigation of the energy conversion process of a single bubble collapsing near different boundaries. Ocean Engineering, 2023, 277: 114063
[6] Reyleigh L. On the pressure developed in a liquid during the collapse of a spherical cavity. Philos Mag, 1917, 34:94-98
[7] Noltingk BE, Neppiras EA. Cavitation produced by ultrasonic. Proceedings of the Physical Society. Section B, 1951, 63:674-685
[8] Plesset MS, Chapman RB. Collapse of an initially spherical vapor cavity in the neighbourhood of a solid boundary. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1971, 47(2):283-290
[9] Aziz IA, Manmi KMA, Saeed RK, Dadvand A. Modeling three dimensional gas bubble dynamics between two curved rigid plates using boundary integral method. Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 2019(109):19-31
[10] Li S, Saade Y, van der Meer D, et al. Comparison of boundary integral and volume-of-fluid methods for compressible bubble dynamics. International journal of multiphase flow, 2021, 145: 103834
[11] Giussani F, Piscaglia F, Saez-Mischlich G. A three-phase VOF solver for the simulation of in-nozzle cavitation effects on liquid atomization. Journal of Computational Physics, 2020(406):109068
[12] Chakraborty I. Numerical modeling of the dynamics of bubble oscillations subjected to fast variations in the ambient pressure with a coupled level set and volume of fluid method. Physical Review E, 2019(99):043107
[13] Noh W F, Woodward P. SLIC (simple line interface calculation) /Proceedings of the fifth international conference on numerical methods in fluid dynamics June 28-July 2, 1976 Twente University, Enschede. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2005: 330-340
[14] Youngs D L. Time-dependent multi-material flow with large fluid distortion. Numerical methods for fluid dynamics, 1982
[15] Ashgriz N, Poo J Y. FLAIR: Flux line-segment model for advection and interface reconstruction. Journal of computational physics, 1991, 93(2): 449-468
[16] Ubbink O, Issa R I. A method for capturing sharp fluid interfaces on arbitrary meshes. Journal of computational physics, 1999, 153(1): 26-50
[17] Patel HV, Das S, Kuipers JAM, et al. A Coupled volume of fluid and immersed boundary method for simulating 3D multiphase flows with contact line dynamics in complex geometries. Chemical Engineering Science, 2017(166):28-41
[18] Wang Z, Yang J, Koo B, et al. A coupled level set and volume-of-fluid method for sharp interface simulation of plunging breaking waves. International Journal of Multiphase Flow, 2009, 35(3): 227-246
[19] Chen S, Sun D, Qi Y, et al. Study of the Dynamic Behavior of a Bubble Attached to a Wall under AC Electric Field. Journal of Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, 2019, 27(2):35-43
[20] Feng Y, Li H, Guo K, et al. Numerical investigation on bubble dynamics during pool nucleate boiling in presence of a non-uniform electric field by LBM. Applied Thermal Engineering, 2019, 155: 637-649
[21] Zhang L, Zhang J, Deng J. Numerical investigation on the collapse of a bubble cluster near a solid wall. Physical Review E, 2019, 99(4): 043108
[22] Zhao D, Deng F, Zhang L. Numerical investigation on the impact pressure induced by a cavitation bubble collapsing near a solid wall. Physics of Fluids, 2023, 35(4): 043315
[23] Lechner C, Lauterbor W, Koch M, et al. Jet formation from bubbles near a solid boundary in a compressible liquid: Numerical study of distance dependence. Physical Review Fluids, 2020, 5(9): 093604
[24] Cole R H, Weller R. Underwater explosions[J]. Physics Today, 1948, 1(6): 35-35
[25] Li G,Liu D, Wei J, et al. Numerical Investigation into the Difference of Cavitation Damage in the Wet Cylinder Liner of Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine. Chinese Internal Combustion Engine Engineering, 2021, 42 (06): 103-112
[26] Brennen C E. Cavitation and bubble dynamics[M]. Cambridge University Press, 2014
[27] Rayleigh L. VIII. On the pressure developed in a liquid during the collapse of a spherical cavity[J]. The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 1917, 34(200): 94-98
[28] Zhang L X, Yin Q, Shao X M. Theoretical and numerical studies on the bubble collapse in water[J]. Chinese Journal of Hydrodynamics, 2012, 27(1): 68-73
PDF VERSION [DOWNLOAD]
Numerical investigation of near-wall bubble collapse under wall vibration

© 2026 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence