On the possibility of homogeneous nucleation of water droplets and/or ice crystals during the bounces of a cavitation bubble

Olivier Louisnard (1) , Fabienne Espitalier (1)

1 RAPSODEE - Centre de recherche d'Albi en génie des procédés des solides divisés, de l'énergie et de l'environnement

Acoustic cavitation is known to trigger ice nucleation in supercooled water. Several competing and still debatable mechanisms have been proposed in the literature and are related to the pressure field in the vicinity of the bubble at the end of its collapse. Numerical simulations of the bubble dynamics show that during the bubble expansions in the bounces following the main collapse, the bubble core temperature reaches values far below 0 • C for time periods of about 500 ns. The water vapour present in the bubble during these time intervals explores the liquid and the solid region of the phase diagrams before going back to the vapour region. On the base of approximate nucleation kinetics calculations, we examine to what extent liquid droplets could nucleate homogenously in the bubble core during these excursions. We also discuss the possibility that the nucleated clusters reach the bubble wall and trigger ice nucleation in the surrounding liquid if the latter is supercooled.

Domaines: Agrégats Moléculaires et Atomiques [physics.atm-clus]; Dynamique des Fluides [physics.flu-dyn]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Physique Classique [physics.class-ph]

Olivier Louisnard, Fabienne Espitalier. On the possibility of homogeneous nucleation of water droplets and/or ice crystals during the bounces of a cavitation bubble. 2018. ⟨hal-01916084⟩