Effect of gas content on cavitation nuclei in a Gibbs Free Energy framework*

A Gibbs free energy approach is proposed to model cavitation inception. The model is general for homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. The variation in gas content, largely ignored in the literature, is explored using an ideal gas law. Its effect on cavitation inception is studied. It is found that the gas content stabilizes nuclei formation and reduces the energy barrier for nucleation. Hysteresis between the incipience and desinence event can also be explained. An analytic solution relating the initial bubble diameter to the critical pressure is derived, as opposed to the standard methods that have relied on calculating it numerically. A model for the rate of the cumulative nuclei histogram with respect to bubble diameter is proposed. The model recovers the $-4$ power law observed experimentally.