Shock Wave Development in the Collapse of a Cloud of Bubbles

Abstract

A numerical simulation of the collapse of a cloud of bubbles has been used to demonstrate the development of an inwardly propagating shock wave which grows rapidly in magnitude. The fully non-linear nonbarotropic homogeneous flow equations are coupled with single bubble dynamics and solved by a stable numerical scheme. The computational results demonstrate the structure of the shock wave as well as its strengthening effect due to the coupling of the single bubble dynamics with the global dynamics of the flow through the pressure and velocity fields. This appears to confirm the speculation of Morch and his co-workers that such shock formation is an important part of cloud collapse.