A numerical simulation has been carried out to study the interaction of a
cavitation bubble and an elastic membrane. Boundary element method is
used to simulate the physics of the membrane between two fluids which are
assumed to be same (water) for simplicity. The intent of this paper is to clearly
investigate the bubble–membrane interaction. Elasticity of the membrane plays
an important role on the behavior of the bubble. For example, a bubble near
a ‘stiff’ membrane (high elasticity), jets toward it (the same as the rigid
boundary). The influence of two main parameters, namely, dimensionless
distance of the bubble center to the membrane initial position (H
0
) and
the dimensionless elasticity of the membrane (E
0
) are discussed. We have
considered the dimensionless distance of the bubble center to the membrane
initial position in the range of 0.5 6 H
0 6 1 and a membrane of dimensionless
elasticity in the range of 0.01 6 E
0 6 10. An increase in H
0
leads to a decrease
in the membrane displacement from its initial position. Also, increasing of
E
0
leads to a change in the behavior of the bubble from spherical collapse
to jetting toward the membrane (in a same H
0
) and decreasing in membrane
displacement.