Two bifurcation transitions of the floating half zone convection in a fat liquid bridge of larger Pr

Abstract

The transient process of the thermocapillary convection was obtained for the large Pr floating half zone by using the method of three-dimensional and unsteady numerical simulation. The convection transits directly from steady and axisymmetric state to oscillatory flow for slender liquid bridge, and transits ®rst from steady and axisymmetric convection to the steady and non-axisymmetric convection, then, secondly to the oscillatory convection for the fatter liquid bridge. This result implies that the volume of liquid bridge is not only a sensitive critical parameter for the onset of oscillation, but also relates to the new mechanism for the onset of instability in the floating half zone convection even in case of large Prandtl number fluid.The transient process of the thermocapillary convection was obtained for the large Pr floating half zone by using the method of three-dimensional and unsteady numerical simulation. The convection transits directly from steady and axisymmetric state to oscillatory flow for slender liquid bridge, and transits ®rst from steady and axisymmetric convection to the steady and non-axisymmetric convection, then, secondly to the oscillatory convection for the fatter liquid bridge. This result implies that the volume of liquid bridge is not only a sensitive critical parameter for the onset of oscillation, but also relates to the new mechanism for the onset of instability in the floating half zone convection even in case of large Prandtl number fluid