简介:Ourobjectiveisabetterunderstandingoftheroleofphysicalpropertiesofrealfluidsinthethermodynamicsofcavitationinimpurewater.Anextensiontotheclassicalhomogenousnucleationtheorysuitableformixturesispresentedinattempttoaddressthediscrepancybetweenthetheoreticalpredictionsandpracticalobservationsofcavitationratesinwateratnormaltemperatures.Theextensiontakesintoaccoutthenon-equilibrium(dissipative)effectsinvolvedinnucleiformationthroughasubstancedependentcorrectioncoefficienttobedeterminedexperimentally.Thetheoryofthermodynamicfluctuationsisappliedtoderivetheworkofformationofabubblenucleus.Thevalueofthecorrectioncoefficientisestimatedusingpreliminaryexperimentaldatafromaconvergent-divergentnozzle.Anapplicationoftheresultstothenumericalpredictionofthecavitationzonesinaradial-flowwaterpumpisshown.