Free Surface Enhancement of Droplet Rupture by Cavitation Bubble Collapse

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Xu, Chenghao, Yang, Zhengyu, Feng, Jie
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Xu, Chenghao
Yang, Zhengyu
Feng, Jie
author_facet Xu, Chenghao
Yang, Zhengyu
Feng, Jie
contents The interaction between cavitation bubbles and surrounding droplets plays a central role in applications such as surface cleaning, ultrasonic emulsification, and therapeutic delivery. These processes depend on bubble-driven microjets that drive the deformation and breakup of the droplets, which are significantly influenced by geometric confinements. Here, we investigate the hydrodynamic interaction between cavitation bubbles and oil droplets within a thin water layer considering the coupling confinements of a free surface and a rigid wall. We reveal two distinct regimes of droplet response to cavitation bubble collapse: the rupture regime, where oil droplets fragment into smaller droplets, and the no-rupture regime, where the droplet remains intact. By deriving a non-dimensional Kelvin impulse to represent the momentum of the bubble-induced jet, we establish a scaling law that correlates the criterion for droplet rupture to a characteristic Weber number and the bubble-to-droplet size ratio for the first time. This framework delineates the rupture boundary and even extends to predict the rupture of particle-laden droplets driven by cavitation bubbles. Our findings reveal the hydrodynamic principles underlying the cavitation bubble-driven droplet rupture and provide predictive criteria for controlling performance in engineering and biomedical systems involving cavitation bubble dynamics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_06121
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Free Surface Enhancement of Droplet Rupture by Cavitation Bubble Collapse
Xu, Chenghao
Yang, Zhengyu
Feng, Jie
Fluid Dynamics
The interaction between cavitation bubbles and surrounding droplets plays a central role in applications such as surface cleaning, ultrasonic emulsification, and therapeutic delivery. These processes depend on bubble-driven microjets that drive the deformation and breakup of the droplets, which are significantly influenced by geometric confinements. Here, we investigate the hydrodynamic interaction between cavitation bubbles and oil droplets within a thin water layer considering the coupling confinements of a free surface and a rigid wall. We reveal two distinct regimes of droplet response to cavitation bubble collapse: the rupture regime, where oil droplets fragment into smaller droplets, and the no-rupture regime, where the droplet remains intact. By deriving a non-dimensional Kelvin impulse to represent the momentum of the bubble-induced jet, we establish a scaling law that correlates the criterion for droplet rupture to a characteristic Weber number and the bubble-to-droplet size ratio for the first time. This framework delineates the rupture boundary and even extends to predict the rupture of particle-laden droplets driven by cavitation bubbles. Our findings reveal the hydrodynamic principles underlying the cavitation bubble-driven droplet rupture and provide predictive criteria for controlling performance in engineering and biomedical systems involving cavitation bubble dynamics.
title Free Surface Enhancement of Droplet Rupture by Cavitation Bubble Collapse
topic Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06121