Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 219, 121-130 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01787-1

Regular Article

On the transition from cellular to wavelike patterns during solutal Marangoni convection

¹ Institute of Fluid Mechanics, Chair of Magnetofluiddynamics, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany
² Institute of Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics, Technische Universität Ilmenau, PO Box 10 05 65, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany
³ Str. 201, Nr. 6, 13156 Berlin, Germany

^a e-mail: thomas.boeck@tu-ilmenau.de
^b e-mail: kerstin.eckert@tu-dresden.de

Received: 1 July 2012
Revised: 18 January 2013
Published online: 19 March 2013

Abstract

We study characteristic convection patterns emerging during the mass transfer of acetic acid from a glycerol-water layer to a superposed acetone layer by means of experiments and numerical simulations. The patterns form as a result of the stationary Marangoni instability. The initial phase of the pattern evolution is studied using high-resolution simulations. They show hierarchically ordered cellular structures which closely resemble experimental observations. In the later stages presently accessible to the experiments, the cells are locally replaced by relaxation oscillation waves. The emergence of these structures is favored when the experiment is performed in narrow cuvettes.