PATTERN-FORMATION IN LARGE-SCALE MARANGONI CONVECTION WITH DEFORMABLEINTERFACE

We derive a nonlinear evolution equation describing the evolution of l arge-scale patterns in Marangoni convection in thermally insulated two -layer liquid-gas system with deformable interface, and generalizing e quations obtained previously by Knobloch and Shtilman and Sivashinsky. Both surface deformation and inertial effects contribute to the diver sity of long-scale Marangoni convective patterns. In the space of para meters - Galileo and capillary numbers - different regions are found w here not only hexagonal, but also roll and square patterns are subcrit ical. Stability regions for various patterns are found, as well as reg ions of multistability. It is shown that competition between squares a nd hexagons leads to formation of a stable quasicrystalline dodecagona l convective structure.