A Comprehensive Model for Cavitation Nuclei: Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Analysis using Gibbs Free Energy

A general Gibbs free energy approach is proposed to model cavitation inception for homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. The effect of gas content is explored using the ideal gas law. Analytic solutions of the critical radius for incipient and desinent cases are obtained as functions of gas content. Hysteresis between the incipient and desinent cases is explored. The initial diameter as a function of critical pressure is also expressed as an analytic solution, a relationship that is widely used in CSM experiments. The presence of impurities, modeled as idealized rough geometry is analyzed. The effect of roughness and gas content is found to reduce the barriers to nucleation and stabilize the bubble nuclei. A model is proposed for the rate of the cumulative nuclei histogram with respect to bubble diameter which recovers the $-4$ power law observed experimentally.