G S B Lebon

Characterizing the cavitation development and acoustic spectrum in various liquids

A bespoke cavitometer that measures acoustic spectrum and is capable of operating in a range of temperatures (up to 750°C) was used to study the cavitation behaviour in three transparent liquids and in molten aluminium. To relate these acoustic measurements to cavitation development, the dynamics of the cavitation bubble structures was observed in three Newtonian, optically transparent liquids with significantly different physical properties: water, ethanol, and glycerine. Each liquid was treated at 20kHz with a piezoelectric ultrasonic transducer coupled to a titanium sonotrode with a tip diameter of 40mm. Two different transducer power levels were deployed: 50% and 100%, with the maximum power corresponding to a peak-to-peak amplitude of 17μm. The cavitation structures and the flow patterns were filmed with a digital camera. To investigate the effect of distance from the ultrasound source on the cavitation intensity, acoustic emissions were measured with the cavitometer at two points: below the sonotrode and near the edge of the experimental vessel. The behaviour of the three tested liquids was very different, implying that their physical parameters played a decisive role in the establishment of the cavitation regime. Non dimensional analysis revealed that water shares the closest cavitation behaviour with liquid aluminium and can therefore be used as its physical analogue in cavitation studies; this similarity was also confirmed when comparing the measured acoustic spectra of water and liquid aluminium.

Dynamics of two interacting hydrogen bubbles in liquid aluminum under the influence of a strong acoustic field

Ultrasonic melt processing significantly improves the properties of metallic materials. However, this promising technology has not been successfully transferred to the industry because of difficulties in treating large volumes of melt. To circumvent these difficulties, a fundamental understanding of the efficiency of ultrasonic treatment of liquid metals is required. In this endeavor, the dynamics of two interacting hydrogen bubbles in liquid aluminum are studied to determine the effect of a strong acoustic field on their behavior. It is shown that coalescence readily occurs at low frequencies in the range of 16 to 20 kHz; forcing frequencies at these values are likely to promote degassing. Emitted acoustic pressures from relatively isolated bubbles that resonate with the driving frequency are in the megapascal range and these cavitation shock waves are presumed to promote grain refinement by disrupting the growth of the solidification front.

Application of the "Full Cavitation Model" to the fundamental study of cavitation in liquid metal processing

Ultrasonic cavitation treatment of melt significantly improves the downstream properties and quality of conventional and advanced metallic materials. However, the transfer of this technology has been hindered by difficulties in treating large volumes of liquid metal. To improve the understanding of cavitation processing efficiency, the Full Cavitation Model, which is derived from a reduced form of the Rayleigh-Plesset equation, is modified and applied to the two-phase problem of bubble propagation in liquid melt. Numerical simulations of the sound propagation are performed in the microsecond time scale to predict the maximum and minimum acoustic pressure amplitude fields in the domain. This field is applied to the source term of the bubble transport equation to predict the generation and destruction of cavitation bubbles in a time scale relevant to the fluid flow. The use of baffles to limit flow speed in a launder conduit is studied numerically, to determine the optimum configuration that maximizes the residence time of the liquid in high cavitation activity regions. With this configuration, it is then possible to convert the batch processing of liquid metal into a continuous process. The numerical simulations will be validated against water and aluminium alloy experiments, carried out at Brunel University.

Comparison of cavitation intensity in water and in molten aluminium using a high-temperature cavitometer

The application of ultrasound to industrial casting processes has attracted research interest during the last 50 years. However, the transfer and scale-up of this advanced and promising technology to the industry have been hindered by difficulties in treating large volumes of liquid metal due to the lack of understanding of certain fundamentals. In the current study, experimental results on ultrasonic processing in deionised water and in liquid aluminium (Al) are reported. Cavitation activity was determined in both liquid environments using an advanced high-temperature cavitometer sensor. In water, the highest cavitation activity is obtained for the lowest sonotrode tip amplitudes. Below the sonotrode, the cavitation intensity in liquid aluminium is found to be four times higher than in water.

Investigation of Instabilities Arising with Non-Orthogonal Meshes Used in Cell Centred Elliptic Finite Volume Computations

Transport processes in most engineering applications occur within complex geometries. In engineering practice, users rely heavily on commercial mesh generators, which can produce unacceptably skewed meshes. Convergence behaviour and absolute accuracy in finite volume CFD computations depend critically on mesh quality and in particular, mesh orthogonality. In this paper, the effects of non-orthogonality on the main component algorithms of pressure-correction type cell-centred finite volume codes are closely examined, systematically adjusted and tested. The modifications to the pressure correction method applied to cases using non-orthogonal grids are described. The SIMPLEC algorithm [1], with the aid of an inverse square distance interpolation, is used for overcoming instabilities arising in a few problematic cells. Solution instabilities which arise when using hexahedral or tetrahedral meshes are attenuated by bounding the maximum and minimum values of solved variables within a physically realistic range. The consistency and accuracy of the proposed method are compared with benchmark solutions [2] available in the literature. The usefulness of the present method is demonstrated by its application to illustrative problems for which comparison data are available.

Fundamental studies on cavitation melt processing

The application of ultrasound to industrial casting processes has attracted research interest during the last 50 years. However, the transfer and scale-up of this advanced and promising technology to industry has been hindered by difficulties in treating large volumes of liquid metal due to the lack of understanding of certain fundamentals. In the current study experimental results on ultrasonic processing in deionised water and in liquid aluminium (Al) are reported. Cavitation activity was determined in both liquid environments and acoustic pressures were successfully measured using an advanced high-temperature cavitometer sensor. Results showed that highest cavitation intensity in the liquid bulk is achieved at lower amplitudes of the sonotrode tip than the maximum available, suggesting nonlinearity in energy transfer to the liquid, while the location of the sonotrode is seen to substantially affect cavitation activity within the liquid. Estimation of real-time acoustic pressures distributed inside a crucible with liquid Al was performed for the first time.

Contactless ultrasonic treatment of melts using EM induction

Ultrasound Treatment (UT) is commonly used in light alloys during solidification to refine microstructure, or disperse immersed particles. A sonotrode probe introduced into the melt generates sound waves that are strong enough to produce cavitation of dissolved gases. The same method cannot be used in high temperature melts, or for highly reactive alloys, due to probe erosion and melt contamination. An alternative, contactless method of generating sound waves is proposed and investigated theoretically in this paper, using electromagnetic (EM) induction. In addition to strong vibration, the EM induction currents generate strong stirring in the melt that aids distribution of the UT effect to large volumes of material. In a typical application, the same induction coil surrounding the crucible used to melt the alloy may be adopted for UT with suitable frequency tuning. Alternatively - or in addition - a top coil may be used. For industrial use, instead of multiple sonotrodes as has been the practice in scaling up, modelling shows that one simply has to alter the coil geometry and current to suit. To reach sinusoidal pressure fluctuations suitable for cavitation it may be necessary to tune the induction coil frequency for resonance, given the crucible dimensions.