Numerical and Experimental Studies of Collapsing Cavitation Bubbles for Ballast Water Treatment

In this paper, we report both experimental and computational studies of hydrodynamic cavitation generated by accelerating liquid through a series of constrictions. The detailed process of cavitation generation is visualized using a high-speed photography. The cavitation is initiated when a gas bubble moves towards the constrictions. The gas bubble initially accelerates, expands and then splits into smaller bubbles when it moves along the constriction. As these bubbles migrate into a large liquid compartment, they collapse violently to form a bubble cloud, owing to a sudden jump in liquid pressure in the compartment. The experimental observation is further confirmed using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. We also present experimental evidence showing a significant reduction in gram-negative Escherichia coli concentration after it passes through the constrictions.