Marangoni Instability in a Fluid Layer with Insoluble Surfactant

The Marangoni convective instability in a horizontal fluid layer with the insoluble surfactant and nondeformable free surface is investigated. The surface tension at the free surface is linearly dependent on the temperature and concentration gradients. At the bottom surface, the temperature conditions of uniform temperature and uniform heat flux are considered. By linear stability theory, the exact analytical solutions for the steady Marangoni convection are derived and the marginal curves are plotted. The effects of surfactant or elasticity number, Lewis number and Biot number on the marginal Marangoni instability are assessed. The surfactant concentration gradients and the heat transfer mechanism at the free surface have stabilizing effects while the Lewis number destabilizes fluid system. The fluid system with uniform temperature condition at the bottom boundary is more stable than the fluid layer that is subjected to uniform heat flux at the bottom boundary.

Authors:

• Ainon Syazana Ab. Hamid
• Seripah Awang Kechil
• Ahmad Sukri Abd. Aziz

Keywords:

• Analytical solutions
• Marangoni Instability
• Nondeformable free surface
• Surfactant.

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