On the formation and propagation of hydrothermal waves in liquid layers with phase change

This paper reports on a numerical model expressly developed to inquire about the role of solidification in determining the properties of the emerging surface-tension-driven flow in typical models of oxide crystal growth. Following earlier efforts in the literature, we consider substances which have already enjoyed a widespread consideration for such a kind of studies, i.e. sodium nitrate (NaNO3, Pr = 8) and succinonitrile (SCN, Pr = 23). Specific numerical examples are expressly elaborated and presented to provide inputs for an increased understanding of the main cause-and-effect relationships driving fluid flow and determining its properties. It is shown that, by interfering with the hydrothermal mechanism, namely the preferred mode of instability of Marangoni flow over a wide range of substances and conditions, solidification contributes to the chaoticity of the system by increasing the complexity of the emerging patterns and enriching the spectral content of the flow.