Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 192, 175-184 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2011-01372-8

Regular Article

Different types of nonlinear convective oscillations in a multilayer system under the joint action of buoyancy and thermocapillary effect

¹ Department of Mathematics, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel
² Seconda Universita di Napoli (SUN) Dipartimento di Ingegneria Aerospaziale e Meccanica (DIAM), via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy
³ Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Service de Chimie Physique EP, CP 165-62, 50 Av. F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium

^a e-mail: yuri11@inter.net.il

Received: 21 January 2011
Revised: 25 January 2011
Published online: 9 March 2011

Abstract

The nonlinear development of oscillatory instability under the joint action of buoyant and thermocapillary effects in a multilayer system, is investigated. The nonlinear convective regimes are studied by the finite difference method. Two different types of boundary conditions – periodic boundary conditions and rigid heat-insulated lateral walls, are considered. It is found that in the case of periodic boundary conditions, the competition of both mechanisms of instability may lead to the development of specific types of flow: buoyant-thermocapillary traveling wave and pulsating traveling wave. In the case of rigid heat-insulated boundaries, various types of nonlinear flows – symmetric and asymmetric oscillations, have been found.