Dynamics of gas bubble growth in oil-refrigerant mixtures under isothermal depressurization

This paper proposes a numerical model to predict the growth of gaseous refrigerant bubbles in oil-refrigerant mixtures with high contents of oil subjected to isothermal depressurization. The model considers an Elementary Cell (EC) in which a spherical bubble is surrounded by a concentric and spherical liquid layer containing a finite amount of dissolved liquid refrigerant. The pressure reduction in the EC generates a concentration gradient at the bubble interface and the refrigerant is transported to the bubble by molecular diffusion. After a sufficiently long time, the concentration gradient ...