Computational fluid dynamic modeling of acoustic liquid manipulation

Abstract

<p>Acoustic liquid manipulation, or ALM, is a term used to qualify three effects of nonlinear sound transmitted through fluid: radiation pressure, streaming, and heating. ALM is harnessed for a number of uses, such as the creation of fountains, formation of jets, and the destruction of cancerous tumors. As with any physical phenomenon, a computational model is desired to allow prediction of ALM.;Since prior work associated with this study produced a model for nonlinear sound, this thesis focused on developing computational fluid dynamic code to predict fluid velocity and heating. The model was compared with experimental data for water at room temperature and found to produce similar flow paths, although the code produced velocities orders of magnitude below the empirical setup. A number of cases were also examined to determine effects of fluid property variation. The conclusions discuss the merits of the model, as well as improvements for future work.</p>