BOUNDARY EFFECT ON THE BENARD-MARANGONI INSTABILITY IN A FLUID-SOLID SYSTEM

The onset instability of the Rayleigh-Benard convection in horizontal liquid-solid layers with a free upper surface heated from below is stu died. The focus is on the effects of the solid plate thickness and its conductivity. It is found that a two-layer system with a higher relat ive thermal conductivity or a higher thickness ratio tends to stabiliz e the system. The parallel flow assumption is shown to be valid only f or the system with a thin plate thickness and poor conductivity. Copyr ight (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd