In:
Physics of Fluids, AIP Publishing, Vol. 25, No. 9 ( 2013-09-01)
Abstract:
Transient solutal Marangoni convection in a closed two-layer system is studied by a combination of numerical simulations and supplementary validation experiments. The initially quiescent, equally sized liquid layers are the phases of a cyclohexanol/water mixture. Butanol is additionally dissolved in the upper organic layer. Its diffusion across the interface is sensitive to the Marangoni instability. Complex convective patterns emerge that develop a hierarchical cellular structure in the course of the mass transfer. Our highly resolved simulations based on a pseudospectral method are the first to successfully reproduce the multiscale flow observed in the experiments. We solve the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes-Boussinesq equations with an undeformable interface, which is modeled using the linear Henry relation for the partition of the weakly surface-active butanol. Length scales in the concentration and velocity fields associated with the small and large-scale cells agree well with our experimental data from shadowgraph images. Moreover, the simulations provide detailed information on the local properties of the flow by which the evolution of the patterns and their vertical structure are analyzed. Apart from relatively weak influences due to buoyancy, the evolution of the convective structures is self-similar between different initial butanol concentrations when length and time are appropriately rescaled.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
1070-6631
,
1089-7666
Language:
English
Publisher:
AIP Publishing
Publication Date:
2013
detail.hit.zdb_id:
1472743-2
detail.hit.zdb_id:
241528-8
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