Transient cavitation in high-quality-factor resonators at high static pressures.

It is well known that cavitation collapse can generate intense concentrations of mechanical energy, sufficient to erode even the hardest metals and to generate light emissions visible to the naked eye [sonoluminescence (SL)]. Considerable attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of "single bubble sonoluminescence" (SBSL) in which a single stable cavitation bubble radiates light flashes each and every acoustic cycle. Most of these studies involve acoustic resonators in which the ambient pressure is near 0.1 MPa (1 bar), and with acoustic driving pressures on the order of 0.1 MPa. This study describes a high-quality factor, spherical resonator capable of achieving acoustic cavitation at ambient pressures in excess of 30 MPa (300 bars). This system generates bursts of violent inertial cavitation events lasting only a few milliseconds (hundreds of acoustic cycles), in contrast with the repetitive cavitation events (lasting several minutes) observed in SBSL; accordingly, these events are described as "inertial transient cavitation." Cavitation observed in this high pressure resonator is characterized by flashes of light with intensities up to 1000 times brighter than SBSL flashes, as well as spherical shock waves with amplitudes exceeding 30 MPa at the resonator wall. Both SL and shock amplitudes increase with static pressure.

Theory of inert gas-condensing vapor thermoacoustics: propagation equation.

The theory of acoustic propagation in an inert gas-condensing vapor mixture contained in a cylindrical pore with wet walls and an imposed temperature gradient is developed. It is shown that the vapor diffusion effects in the mixture are analogous to the heat diffusion effects in the thermoacoustics of inert gases, and that these effects occur in parallel with the heat diffusion effects in the wet system. The vapor diffusion effects can be expressed in terms of the thermoviscous function F(lambda) used in the theory of sound propagation of constant cross-section tubes. As such, these results can be extended to any shape parallel-walled tube. The propagation equations predict that the temperature gradient required for onset of sound amplification in a wet-walled prime mover is much lower than the corresponding temperature gradient for an inert gas prime mover. The results of a measurement of the onset temperature of a simple demonstration prime mover in air with a dry stack and with a stack wetted with water provide a qualitative verification of the theory.

Theory of inert gas-condensing vapor thermoacoustics: transport equations.

The preceding paper [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 112, 1414-1422 (2002)] derives the propagation equation for sound in an inert gas-condensing vapor mixture in a wet-walled pore with an imposed temperature gradient. In this paper the mass, enthalpy, heat, and work transport equations necessary to describe the steady-state operation of a wet-walled thermoacoustic refrigerator are derived and presented in a form suitable for numerical evaluation. The requirement that the refrigerator operate in the steady state imposes zero mass flux for each species through a cross section. This in turn leads to the evaluation of the mass flux of vapor in the system. The vapor transport and heat transport are shown to work in parallel to produce additional cooling power in the wet refrigerator. An idealized calculation of the coefficient of performance (COP) of a wet-walled thermoacoustic refrigerator is derived and evaluated for a refrigeration system. The results of this calculation indicate that the wet-walled system can improve the performance of thermoacoustic refrigerators. Several experimental and practical questions and problems that must be addressed before a practical device can be designed and tested are described.