Laser-induced vapour bubble as a means for crystal nucleation in supersaturated solutions—Formulation of a numerical framework

We use in this work numerical simulations to investigate the evolution of a laser-induced vapour bubble with a special focus on the resolution of a thin layer of liquid around the bubble. The application of interest is laser-induced crystallization, where the bubble acts as a nucleation site for crystals. Experimental results indicate the extreme dynamics of these bubbles where the interface during the period of 200 μs, from nucleation to collapse, reaches a maximum radius of roughly 700 μm and attains a velocity of well above 20 m/s. To fully resolve the dynamics 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. The 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 are made for future improvements of the framework.