Acceleration-induced cavitation in submerged flows

When a submerged object moves with high velocity, the pressure of the surrounding liquid decreases drastically. If the pressure drops sufficiently low, the liquid vaporizes explosively in a process known as vaporous cavitation. Cavitation events induced by high flow velocity are relatively well understood, but how does the pressure drop and subsequent cavitation change when a liquid experiences a high acceleration? Intuitively, one would think that if you suddenly pull on a liquid hard enough the tension generated will rip it apart; i.e. cause it to cavitate. Our experiments show that this is indeed the case when a submerged disk experiences a sudden acceleration. We experimentally determine the cavitation thresholds for a submerged accelerating disk and develop theoretical arguments to explain them.