Stochastic Nature of Wall Nucleation and Its Impact on the Time Average Boundary Condition

Abstract

A new interpretation of the characteristic area and frequency appearing in the wall nucleation source from the point of view of the stochastic nature of this phenomenon is presented in this paper. This analysis shows important drawbacks in the standard interpretation of these terms, such as a strong bias in the characteristic area and high sensitivity to experimental conditions for the frequency. Finally, methods to improve the measurement of the corresponding mean values as well as estimators for their uncertainties based on the definition of a generalized probability density function (PDF) are provided.