Effect of metal plate on ultrasonic cavitation field distribution

Abstract In order to enhance the ultrasonic degradation rate of organic solutions, a metal plate is placed at the water–air interface of the ultrasonic cleaning tank. Initially, the distribution of the acoustic field in the ultrasonic water tank was calculated using the simulation software COMSOL. The simulation results demonstrated that the utilization of the metal plate can eliminate the standing-wave acoustic field to a certain extent. Subsequently, the pixel method was selected for a quantitative comparison of the cavitation area in the flume with and without the metal plate. The results demonstrated that, under specific conditions, the area of ultrasonic cavitation in the water tank can be expanded using a metal plate. Thereafter, an acoustic degradation experiment was designed to confirm the feasibility of the simulation method. Furthermore, the impacts of the amplitude of the incident ultrasonic pressure, frequency, and the height of the liquid level in the water tank on the cavitation area were investigated.