ON THE STRUCTURE OF NONLINEAR-WAVES IN LIQUIDS WITH GAS-BUBBLES

Transient wave phenomena in two-phase mixtures with a liquid as the matrix and gas bubbles as the dispersed phase have been studied in a shock tube using glycerine as the liquid and He, N2, and SF6 as gases having a large variation in the ratio of specific heats and the thermal diffusivity. Two different sizes of bubble radii have been produced, R 0 = 1.15 and 1.6 mm, with a dispersion in size of less than 5%. The void fraction was varied over one order of magnitude, φ0 = 0.2%-2%. The measured pressure profiles were averaged by superimposing many shots, typically 20. Speeds and profiles were measured for shock waves and for wave packets. Investigation of the wave structure allows one to approach the fundamental question of how the physics on the level of the microstructure influences the behavior on the macroscale. In the theoretical work, modeling on the basis of a hierarchy of characteristic length scales is developed. Bubble interactions, transient heat transfer, and dissipation due to molecular and bulk viscosities are included. Solutions for small void fractions and moderate amplitudes are obtained for the steady cases of shock waves and solitons and are compared with the experimental results. © 1990 American Institute of Physics.