Laboratory Investigations of the Mechanism of Cavitation

The paper describes some experintental investigations of the formation and collapse of cavitation bubbles. The experiments were carried on in the high-speed water tunnel of the Hydrodynantics Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology under the sponsorship of the Research and Development Division of the Bureau of Ordnan ce of the U. S. Navy and the Fluid Mechanics Section of the Office of Naval Research. A detailed study of the formation and collapse of the individual bubbles has been carried on by the u se of high-speed motion pictures taken at rates up to 20,000 per sec. From these records calculations h ave been made of rate of formation and collapse of the bubbles. Deductions have been drawn from these results concerning th'e p h ysical mech anism of t h e cavitation phenomenon.