Ultrasonic cavitation monitoring by acoustic noise power measurement

In this paper, a new tool is proposed to carry out acoustic cavitation monitoring and to have an overview of its effects in applications. After a brief review of the cavitation characterization techniques, it is shown that cavitation noise is a suitable and accurate indicator of the cavitation activity induced in a liquid. In the first part of this study, the origin of the first spectral component of the cavitation noise is discussed. The f/2 and 2 f component evolution measurement at a driving frequency around 1 MHz confirms Neppiras' ones and gives an indicator of the cavitation inception. In the second part, the cavitation noise spectrum distortion is considered as a function of the acoustic power transmitted to the liquid in order to obtain an indicator of cavitation activity. In the last part, this new tool is used to bring to the fore the hysteresis effect associated with the cavitation. An experimental correlation between cavitation noise power measurement and the sonochemical activity in an oxidization process is also presented. (C) 2000 Acoustical Society of America.