Cavitation phenomena and the occurrence of pressure-tension cycles under dynamic stressing

Two different methods of subjecting a liquid to tension under dynamic conditions are described. In the first method a tension pulse is created ab initio in a column of water and the resulting pressure-tension cycles are monitored by a pressure transducer. These cyclic pressure variations have been observed by earlier workers but no adequate explanation of their occurrence has been previously given; such an explanation is proposed in the present paper. Secondly, a development of the bullet-piston method used by Couzens and Trevena (1974) is described in which a new way of obtaining and presenting the experimental results is reported.