Electrical and Acoustic Parameters of Wire-Guided Discharges in Water: Experimental Determination and Phenomenological Scaling

This paper is focused on investigation of the electrical, hydrodynamic, and acoustic parameters of underwater plasma discharges, stabilized with thin copper wires. The experimental current and acoustic waveforms have been obtained using different combinations of the circuit capacitance, charging voltage, and wire length. The resistances of plasma discharges have been calculated for all combinations of electrical and topological parameters, based on the constant resistance approach. Phenomenological scaling relationships that link the plasma resistance and the total energy delivered to the plasma, the period of discharge cavity oscillation and the peak magnitude of the acoustic impulse have been obtained. These relationships can be used in optimization of the acoustic output from the wire-guided discharges for different practical applications.