BOUNDARY-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THERMOCAPILLARY CONVECTION WITH A FREE-SURFACE IN A RECTANGULAR CAVITY

A boundary element method for analysing thermocapillary convection wit h a free surface has been developed. The divergence theorem is applied to the non-linear convective volume integral in the boundary formulat ion with the pressure penalty function. Consequently, velocity and tem perature gradients are eliminated and the complete formulation is writ ten in terms of velocity and temperature. This provides considerable r eduction in storage and computational requirements while improving acc uracy. Employing this method, a simulation of surface tension driven c onvective flow in a rectangular cavity with differential heated isothe rmal lateral walls in a microgravity environment has been demonstrated . The of different Marangoni numbers, Reynolds numbers and Prandtl num bers on the shape of the free surface, the temperature distribution an d the flow fields has also been studied.