1993 Volume 19 Issue 6 Pages 1038-1043
A numerical analysis was carried out to determine the effect of the size of a spherical nucleus, that is, the effect of the initial bubble radius, on bubble growth rate in a uniformly superheated liquid.
Numerical solutions obtained by means of a finite difference method are illustrated for an example of a growing bubble in superheated water with bulk temperatures, T∞, of 4080°C, superheats, ΔTs, of 520K and initial-to-critical bubble radiusratios, γ, of 1.0150, covering the inertia-controlled and heat-transfer controlled regimes.
For cases of practical importance γ≥2, the restraining effect of interfacial surface tension on the bubble growth rate is found to be negligible, and a dimensionless equation for predicting the bubble growth rate in a superheated pure liquid is formulated from the numerical solutions.
