CAVITATION IN LIQUID METHANE WITH SMALL HELIUM ADDITIVES

Abstract

Cavitation in a viscous gas-saturated liquid has been considered taking into account the diffusive supply of a volatile component to a bubble within the framework of the classical nucleation theory (CNT). An expression has been obtained for the steady-state flux of new phase nuclei. The method of simultaneous pulse stretching and heating has been employed to determine the limiting stretchings of pure methane and methane–helium solutions with helium contents of up to 0.2 mol %. The data obtained on nucleation rate of (1020–1022) m–3 s–1, have been compared with the results of calculations by the CNT. The peculiarities of new phase nucleation in weak solutions and the reasons for the discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental data have been discussed.