Condensation-Relaxation of Supersaturated Vapor and the Possibility of the Experimental Determination of the Nucleation Rate

In this paper, we propose a method for determining the nucleation rate immediately at the drop nucleation step. The method was developed by analyzing the results of numerical modeling by moment’s method of the bulk condensation of vapor from a vapor–gas mixture after instantaneous creation of a supersaturated state with regard to heat release. The analysis of the numerical modeling results enabled us to make simplifying assumptions and derive scaling relations, which relate the condensation relaxation time and the number density of droplets to the nucleation rate under the initial conditions. It is these relations, who provide a fundamental possibility of experimentally determining the nucleation rate, form the basis for the method proposed.

Keywords Supersaturated vapor, condensation-relaxation, scaling relations, nucleation rate