Equations of state and hysteresis loops in isothermal cavitation

This paper investigates the influence of the use of the cubic equation of state (EOS) in the isothermal cavitation of compressible fluids. To do so, a thermodynamic consistent cavitation model that was recently proposed has been used. This model is derived under the Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes and considers the irreversible dissipative character of the phase change transformation. Numerical simulations carried out using linear and cubic EOS are presented and compared. Neglecting surface tension effects, the results obtained demonstrate that there is no significant difference between the responses of these two types of EOS for water up to saturation pressures up to about 200 kPa. Hysteresis loops observed in the simulations with both types of EOS are virtually the same. It suggests that linear EOSs can provide good approximations for metastable behaviors (intrinsically present in cubic EOS) as well as for the Gibbs free energy difference (the thermodynamic force associated with irreversible phase change transformation), rendering a great simplification in the analysis.