Topological structure bifurcation of temperature field of deformable drop in Marangoni migration

The unsteady processes of the Marangoni migration of deformable liquid drops are simulated numerically in a wider range of Marangoni number (up to Ma = 500) in the present work. A steady terminal state can always be reached, and the scaled terminal velocity is a monotonic function decreasing with increasing Marangoni number, which is generally in agreement with corresponding experimental data. The topological structure of flow field in the steady terminal state does not change as the Marangoni number increases, while bifurcation of the topological structure of temperature field occurs twice at two corresponding critical Marangoni numbers. A third critical value of Marangoni number also exists, beyond which the coldest point jumps from the rear stagnation to inside the drop though the topological structure of the temperature field does not change. It is found that the inner and outer thermal boundary layers may exist along the interface both inside and outside the drop if Ma > 70. But the thickness decreases with increasing Marangoni number more slowly than the prediction of potential flow at large Marangoni and Reynolds numbers.