Patterns in small aspect ratio Bénard-Marangoni

Abstract

An experimental study of pattern formation in Be´nard-Marangoni convection with small aspect ratio containers and high Prandtl number fluids is presented. The observed stationary patterns complete previous experimental works performed at different values of aspect ratio and supercriticality. Detailed experimental studies of the flow in some single structures are described, and spatial bifurcations between different stationary planforms for a fixed aspect ratio are shown. These experimental results agree qualitatively with linear theory analysis and with some previous numerical works about boundary conditions effects.