title: Cavitation dynamics at microscale level.
abstract: Cavitation in a liquid is known for its deleterious effects, namely erosion, noise and loss of performance. In a mechanical heart valve, stresses generated by cavitation could lead to catastrophic failure. These deleterious effects are directly connected to the dynamics of pre-existing microscopic nuclei in the liquid medium. To highlight this, a selective review of the dynamics of the bubbles at the microscopic levels is considered here; the various aspects of the problem are highlighted and briefly addressed; new areas of research in non-spherical and bubble cloud dynamics are then considered. The importance of the inclusion of these collective and non-uniform flow effects in the dynamics of bubbles in a realistic cavitating flow field is also elucidated.
authors.affiliation: Dynaflow Inc., Fulton, Maryland 20759.
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Chahine
mesh_terms: D006350:Heart Valve Prosthesis; D006801:Humans; D008853:Microscopy; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012212:Rheology; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013499:Surface Properties