Large-scale molecular dynamics simulation of bubble nucleation

JZ Wang and M Chen and B Wang and JW Shu and ZY Guo, PROCEEDINGS OF THE 3RD INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON HEAT TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT AND ENERGY CONSERVATION, VOLS 1 AND 2, 228-234 (2004).

Bubble nucleation process is investigated by using a large-scale molecular dynamics simulation, which employs 1000188 molecules. Simulations reveal that the physical picture of bubble nucleation agrees with that of the classical nucleation theory, while differs from Kwak's molecular interaction model, which thinks bubble is formed by the expansion of high-energy cluster in the liquid. Moreover, critical embryos are identified by the quantitative analysis of bubble nucleation processes. The simulated critical embryos keep in quasi-spherical shapes. The evaluated critical radii approximate the prediction of the classical nucleation theory, despite the fact that the critical embryos are in nanometers.

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