Numerical Study on the Dynamic Characteristics of Double Cavitation Bubbles in Infinite Domain of Viscoelastic Fluid

Cavitation bubble increasingly exists in medical applications, but the interaction between cavitation bubbles in viscoelastic fluids such as blood and tissue fluid involved in such applications has been rarely studied. This paper developed a compressible gas-liquid two-phase flow solver for viscoelastic fluid based on OpenFOAM, and carried out numerical simulations of double cavitation bubbles in an infinite domain of viscoelastic fluid. The viscoelastic effect of the fluid is characterized by the FENE-CR constitutive model. The results show that the viscoelastic effect of the fluid decreases the maximum pressure generated during cavitation, lowers the jet velocity formed during bubble collapse, and promotes bubble coalescence. In addition, the moment and intensity of jet impact formed by the collision of counter jets are also affected by the distance between double cavitation bubbles. And an increase in relaxation time can lead to a decrease in the jet impact pressure and the maximum velocities. The above conclusions can provide guidance for the control of cavitation bubble in liquid environments of human bodies with different properties.