Influence of Homogeneous Nucleation on the Intensity of Evaporation/Condensation Processes.

An approach based on the direct numerical solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation is proposed to take into account the influence of homogeneous nucleation on the mass transfer intensity in the evaporation/condensation (recondensation) problem. On the basis of the comparison between the scales of the formation time of a critical-size droplet and the time of supersaturation propagation, it is shown that it is possible to describe the considered problem in two stages, i.e., without taking into account the influence of droplets at the first stage and with taking into account their influence at the second stage. The calculation results show that, in the case of immobile droplets, there is a strong influence of bulk condensation on the intensity of the evaporation/condensation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]