Natural and Marangoni convection in partially miscible liquid systems

This article deals with laboratory experiments and numerical simulations of convection and dissolution phenomena in partially miscible liquids. Transparent organic liquids (cyclohexane and methanol) are considered as a model system to study problems occurring during solidification of metal alloys with a miscibility gap. Non-invasive optical techniques are used to study stable and unstable convective solutal plumes, that are produced at the tip of a liquid droplet dissolving in a non-isothermal partially miscible liquid. Numerical simulations explain the observed behaviour and capture additional insights into the physics of the phenomenon, following from a delicate balance between counteracting buoyancy and surface tension-driven flows.