Bubble Growth in Decompression Fields

In this work, a reasonably exact description or formulation has been obtained experimentally and theoretically for the growth of a vapor bubble in decompression fields of uniformly heated water. Experiments have been successfully made using a clean bubble chamber of a shock-tube type to realize quite rapid decompression, and applying pulsed laser beam heating for an instantaneous point energy source to cause a bubble to nucleate in the decompressed water. Data have been obtained under conditions of short periods of pressure decay and high initial superheat, and have shown remarkably high bubble growth rates compared with available data and formulations. Theoretical studies have been intensively made for obtaining a reasonably exact time-dependent formulation with a thin thermal boundary approximation in liquid on the vapor-liquid interface, and the convective effect of a moving boundary. Theoretical predictions have shown remarkably good agreement with the present experimental data.