Simulation of the effect of stand-off parameter on collapse behaviours of a single cavitation bubble in jet drilling

Abstract

: Cavitation jet drilling has been extensively employed for the exploitation of geo-energy resources. The dynamics of cavitation bubbles in close proximity to the solid boundary have been a subject of great interest during jet drilling, as they play a crucial role in determining the cavitation performance. In present work, the dynamics of a single cavitation bubble near a solid surface is numerically investigated by using the axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations and the volume of fluid method with considering the surface tension of gas-liquid interface, liquid viscosity and compressibility of gas in bubble. The simulated profiles are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with the experimental images, which proves the reliability of employed numerical model. The effects of stand-off distance on the bubble profiles, bubble volume and collapse time have been analysed. Moreover, the cavitation erosion patterns towards the solid wall are also revealed for different dimensionless stand-off distances. The simulation results reveal two distinct collapse patterns for the bubble profiles. The solid wall significantly impedes the shrinkage rate of the bubble, resulting in the longest collapse time when the dimensionless stand-off distance is 1.0. Three erosion patterns of cavitation bubbles towards the solid wall are observed, with the shock wave and micro-jet both contributing significantly to the damage caused by cavitation erosion. The shock wave sweeps the wall resulting in circular corrosion pits with a severely eroded centre, while the micro jet penetrates the wall leading to small spot corrosion pits.