Experimental investigation of the cavitation bubble pulsation behavior under methane bubble interference

Cavitation is a promising technology used to enhance drilling efficiency, treat wastewater, and remove scale, and plays an important role in various types of pumps and propellers. However, its interaction with in situ bubbles remains poorly understood. This study investigates the pulsation behavior of laser-induced cavitation bubbles in an environment containing methane bubbles using a high-speed camera and a hydrophone. Experiments were conducted under controlled thermal conditions, with varying methane bubble sizes and distribution. Key indicators, initial pulsation time and acoustic intensity at collapse, are used to evaluate the pulsation behavior. The results show that both of them gradually increase with the growth of the relative distance between the cavitation bubble, the wall, and the methane bubbles. The asymmetric methane bubble distribution pattern has a greater effect on the cavitation bubble pulsation behavior than the symmetric distribution, with the maximum initial pulsation time reaching up to 114% of the control and corresponding to 119% of the symmetric distribution case in the experiments. The methane bubble influence coefficient was constructed in the case of symmetric methane bubbles, which shows a linear relationship with the dimensionless cavitation bubble pulsation time. Furthermore, methane bubbles have a positive effect on cavitation bubbles after the total center distance of methane bubbles reaches a certain amount. These findings highlight the dual influence of methane bubbles on cavitation dynamics and provide insights into the pulsation behavior of cavitation bubbles within multi-bubble systems.