The mechanism of self-organization in a surface water microlayer utilizing thermocapillary convection

Abstract

The formation of helical macrostructures in a surface-water layer has been experimentally studied. The thermocapillary Marangoni convection bringing about self-organizing helical and dissipative structures in a thin subsurface layer of cooling water with a free surface was demonstrated in an experiment for the first time. The most likely candidates that allow the motion in the corresponding basic experiments were found. These candidates are thermocapillary cells that result from Marangoni convection. The described mathematical tools for modeling the dynamics of thermocapillary Marangoni diffusion are the nonlinear equations of heat diffusion and the equations of self-organization (nonlinear differential equations of a parabolic type). The results of a computational experiment confirmed the mechanisms of self-organization in a surface-water layer.