Hydrodynamic bubble coarsening in off-critical vapor-liquid phase separation.
Late-stage coarsening in off-critical vapor-liquid phase separation is reexamined. In the limit of bubbles of vapor distributed throughout a continuous liquid phase, it is argued that coarsening proceeds via inertial hydrodynamic bubble collapse. This replaces the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner mechanism seen in binary liquid mixtures. The arguments are strongly supported by simulations in two dimensions using a novel single-component soft-sphere fluid.
Warren
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Unilever Research Port Sunlight, Bebington, Wirral, CH63 3JW, United Kingdom.