Direct Simulation of Argon Condensation Flow Using a Kinetic Evaporation Model

Abstract

A cluster evaporation model was derived from the classical nucleation theory (CNT) in the previous work to simulate condensation in free expanding plumes using the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. However, the use of a CNT evaporation model, especially in a low temperature environment, is problematic because macroparameters such as cluster surface tension and vapor saturation pressure are not physically correct for small cluster sizes. In this work, we propose a kinetic based evaporation model obtained from unimolecular dissociation theory (UDT) to model argon cluster evaporation processes in a free expanding plume. The UDT argon cluster evaporation model has been directly verified by molecular dynamics (MD). It is found that although there is about one order of magnitude difference in the CNT and UDT evaporation rates, these two theories predict similar cluster evaporation rate trends as a function of cluster size and temperature. The verified new UDT evaporation model, as well as the previou...