Cavitation due to Accelerating Surfaces within Fluids*

While cavitation in fluids caused by an object moving at a velocity (for instance an impeller) is well understood, the process of cavitation due to accelerating an object through fluid, especially petroleum, has not yet been well studied. In some instances, this cavitation is mitigated by pressurizing the fluid, as in a typical automotive shock absorber, but in other instances, the pressurizing of petroleum is not practical or safe, for instance in the crank case of a motor. The goal of this research is to connect various factors, such as the acceleration of an object through fluid, the density of fluid, the surface geometry of said object, the depth in the fluid, and the derivative of the acceleration with respect to time (the third derivative of position) to the probability of cavitation and to the the pressure gradient throughout the fluid. The connection of these factors will result in a dimensionless number to predict the occurrence of cavitation due to accelerating objects in fluids, which will have implications not only in the automotive field, but also in any industry that has equipment accelerating through lubricants, fuels, or other fluids.