Experiment and Calculation for Expansion Process of Ablation Plasma Jets in Liquid

The expansion process of ablation plasma jet in liquid was experimentally investigated by using high speed digital camera. The sequential pictures show that, in the initial stage of the jet, the Taylor cavity expands in the axial and radial directions simultaneously, and then, is subjected to the constraint of chamber wall, in axial direction be found in the surface of Taylor cavity, where the plasma cools down and condenses as solid particles while the liquid vaporizes as gas. Compared the expansion processes of the cavities among the different discharge energies and the nozzle diameters, it can be seen that the expansion speed of the cavity is directly proportional to the discharge energy and inversely to the nozzle diameter, and the effect of the discharge energy is stronger than that of the nozzle diameter. A set of equations describing the expansion process of ablation plasma jet was derived under the assumption of momentum conservation. The calculated results by use of the equations coincide with the experimented results better.