Enhancement of cavitation intensity and erosion ability of submerged cavitation jet by adding micro-particles

Silica sand micro-particles are added into submerged cavitation jet to enhance its cavitation intensity and erosion ability. The micro-particles promote cavitation as additional heterogeneous nuclei and the activated cavitation bubbles can accelerate micro-particles. The synergistic effect of micro-particles and cavitation bubbles helps to improve the erosion ability of jet. High-speed visualization, cavitation noise measurement, and erosion test are performed to validate the improved cavitation intensity and erosion ability of submerged cavitation jet with micro-particles. The high-speed filming shows the disappearance of the periodic shedding of cavitation cloud and the massive expansion of cavitation region when micro-particles are present. The acoustic power of cavitation noise rises by at most 113.24%. The cavitation intensity of jet increases with increasing micro-particle concentration and decreasing micro-particle size. The erosion test of sandstone shows that submerged cavitation jet with micro-particles increases the mass loss and the surface roughness by at most 86.96% and 128.28%. The changes of macroscopic erosion pattern and microscopic surface morphology are also elucidated.