Numerical modeling of dimethyl ether (DME) bubble growth and breakup

A numerical program is written to simulate the process of vapor bubble growth with spherical symmetry from the thermodynamic critical radius in an initially uniformly superheated liquid. The program is validated by the experimental data of superheated water. The calculated results agree with those of experiments well. The program takes into account the variations of properties with temperature precisely to simulate the DME bubble growth under flash boiling conditions. Considering the influences of pressure, surface tension and viscous stress, the linear stability analysis method is adopted to deduce the dispersion equation to represent the disturbance development during the bubble growth, and a new criterion for bubble breakup is established. The results show the bubble becomes more unstable with the increase of bubble Weber number and void fraction, and that with the increase of bubble growth rate or the decrease of initial radius ration of droplet to bubble, the breakup time of bubble becomes shorter.