Numerical simulation of a laser-induced vapour bubble for crystal nucleation at low supersaturation levels

Conference contribution, 2019

We use in this work numerical simulations to investigate the dynamics of a laser-induced vapour bubble. The application of interest is laser-induced crystallization, where the bubble acts as a nucleation site for crystals. To fully resolve growth and collapse of the bubble, the Volume of Fluid (VOF) numerical framework is used. Inertia, thermal effects and phase-change phenomena are identified as the governing phenomena for the bubble dynamics. We develop and implement into our numerical framework an interface phase-change model that takes into account both evaporation and condensation. Performed simulations produce qualitatively promising results that are in fair agreement with both experiments and analytical solutions from the literature. The reasons behind the observed differences are discussed and suggestions for future improvements of the framework are described.