Structural disorder in Benard-Marangoni convection

Abstract

The influence of the vessel shape, the vessel size and heating on convective patterns in the Benard-Marangoni (B-M) instability has been analysed. These influences can be quantitatively studied by means of some theoretical tools, often used to describe melting in two dimensions. Experimental results show that a hexagonal geometry minimizes the disorder in the hexagonal pattern of B-M convection. This disorder is maximum when the aspect ratio is about 53. The disorder increases when the distance to the threshold increases