Effect of a marginal inclination on pattern formation in a binary liquid mixture under thermal stress

Croccolo, Fabrizio; Scheffold, Frank; Vailati, Alberto

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.014502

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Journal article

Effect of a marginal inclination on pattern formation in a binary liquid mixture under thermal stress

Croccolo, Fabrizio Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland - Laboratoire des Fluides Complexes et leurs Réservoirs-CNRS, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Anglet, France
Scheffold, Frank Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Vailati, Alberto Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy

03.07.2013

Published in:

Physical Review Letters. - 2013, vol. 111, no. 1, p. 014502

English Convective motions in a fluid layer are affected by its orientation with respect to the gravitational field. We investigate the long-term stability of a thermally stressed layer of a binary liquid mixture and show that pattern formation is strongly affected by marginal inclinations as small as a few milliradians. At small Rayleigh numbers, the mass transfer is dominated by the induced large scale shear flow, while at larger Rayleigh numbers, it is dominated by solutal convection. At the transition, the balance between the solutal and shear flows gives rise to drifting columnar flows moving in opposite directions along parallel lanes in a superhighway configuration.

Faculty

Faculté des sciences et de médecine

Department

Département de Physique

Language