Cavitation bubble collapse studied at 20 million frames per second

Abstract

Abstract The collapse of laser‐induced bubbles in water is investigated by high speed photography at framing rates as high as 20 million frames per second. The case of a spherical bubble in an unbounded liquid is compared with the Gilmore model. Bubbles collapsing in front of a solid wall show a rich dynamics depending on their normalized distance. Unprecedented details are given of the generic sequence of events leading to multiple shock waves and bubble shape metamorphosis upon collapse.