A Photoelastic Study of Strain Waves Caused by Cavitation

Ultra-high-speed photoelastic techniques have been applied to a study of the transient stresses and strains in a photoelastic plastic when subject to cavitation. A photocell, used to detect the transient strains, indicated that the time duration of the strains was about 2 microseconds. Using an ultra-high-speed motion picture camera, ultrasonic cavitation bubbles have been photographed collapsing on the surface of a photoelastic specimen, and the resulting strain wave in the solid has been photographed. The dynamic properties of a photoelastic material have been obtained in order to permit quantitative interpretation of the transients. This has indicated that the stresses due to cavitation may be as high as 2.8 x 10^5 psi. The photoelastic plastic, CR-39, was found to exhibit strain birefringence, and its strain-optic constant was found to be independent of the rate of loading.