Microbubble collapse near a viscoelastic solid boundary

Bubble jets are fast liquid jets caused by the asymmetric collapse of gas bubbles. Even a microscale bubble can generate a jet with the speed of a few hundred meters per second, exerting a large impulse onto a nearby structure. Many studies have revealed that the bubble jet dynamics change significantly by the physical properties of nearby boundaries. However, a bubble jet behavior near a viscoelastic boundary remains unknown despite its importance in industrial and biomedical applications. This study numerically investigates the interaction of a bubble jet near a viscoelastic solid, modeled by the Kelvin-Voigt material, using a coupled algorithm of finite volume method and finite element method. The bubble jet dynamics change significantly by variations in viscoelastic properties, which can be explained by scaling analyses of the interaction between the bubble jet and the viscoelastic solid. It has been found that the relative characteristic time scale of the viscoelastic solid primarily affects the change in the overall bubble jet dynamics.