Coupled oscillation of bubbles in a spherical bubble cluster

The pressure wave emitted by a pulsating bubble affects the motions of other bubbles, so in an acoustic field bubbles are in a state of coupled oscillation. In this paper, a cluster with cavitation bubbles inside is considered, and a mathematical model is developed to describe the dynamics of the bubbles of the same radius inside a spherical cluster when the effects of coupled oscillation are included. Based on this new model, the nonlinear acoustic response of cavitation bubbles is analyzed numerically. Comparison of our model with those in the literature, shows that bubbles are suppressed heavily. Because of the coupled oscillations of bubbles, the motions of a bubble are affected by more constraints in the system, which cause the decrease of natural frequency of the bubbles. The nonlinear acoustical response of bubbles is improved by the coupled oscillation in a bubble cluster. With the rise in number density of the cluster, the suppression of bubble oscillation is enhanced. For a cluster of 1 mm radius, when the bubble number is below 500, the change of bubble number may cause a sharp decrease of maximum radial displacement of the bubbles. In cavitation region, there are bubble clusters and large-sized bubble, and the moving large bubble can absorb small bubbles from the surface of bubble cluster, so the bubble numbers inside a cluster varies with time, which may change the acoustic response of coupled oscillating bubbles. The increase of the liquid static pressure can suppress the oscillation of bubbles too, and there is a sensitive region (1-2 atm) that affects remarkably the acoustical response of bubbles. Driving ultrasound can affect the motion of bubble greatly. The range of cavitation bubble size is narrowed when the wave frequency increases. The bubbles whose initial radii are close to 5 m are easy to be activated by ultrasound under given acoustic conditions, i.e. sizes of bubble cluster, surrounding liquid and inner gas. The cluster oscillation of bubbles may suppress the motion of individual bubbles, and weaken the cavition effects caused by individual bubbles. However, the collapse time of the bubbles may be delayed, and the cavitation region may become larger than that for a single bubble. As a result, cavitation effects are amplified in the cluster region.