Oscillatory Marangoni–Bénard interfacial instability and capillary–gravity waves in single- and two-component liquid layers with or without Soret thermal diffusion

Abstract

Shown here are the dispersion relation, the oscillation frequency, and the critical Marangoni number for the onset of oscillatory interfacial instability in a horizontal single‐ or two‐component liquid layer heated from above or below when the upper deformable surface is open to the ambient air. It is shown that for vanishingly small gravity the temperature gradient for the onset of instability also becomes negligibly small thus indicating the major importance and the potential danger of Marangoni–Bénard instability in experiments under microgravity conditions.