Session: 04-02 Cavitation and Bubbly Flows

Paper Number: 86897

86897 - Cleaning Effect of Bubbles Impacting Tilted Walls Under Acoustic Waves 

The motion of water droplets on solid surfaces is a common cleaning process seen in natural settings, such as Lotus leaves. In these cases, the shear stress associated with droplet motion on the surface cleans dust and other particles. The same mechanism applies to air bubbles that move along a solid surface surrounded by another fluid. For example, we can sense the tickling caused by the shear stress as air bubbles slide and rise on our skin when we are in a Jacuzzi. In this project, we aim to demonstate the cleaning induced by a series of air bubbles on a dirty surface. A stream of bubbles is injected by a syringe pump, which targets onto a surface coated with a protein soil dirt. Protein soil is made using a similar method to the standard procedure published by the European Cleaning Machines Association. In particular, we quantify the cleaning efficiency in terms of the surface angle, bubble-cleaning duration, and coating age. Additionally, we characterize the bubble dynamics near the surface. 

Presenting Author: Sunghwan Jung Cornell University