Thermocapillary Convection and Buoyant-Thermocapillary Convection in the Annular Pools of Silicon Melt and Silicone Oil

The thermocapillary convection and buoyant-thermocapillary convection in the annular pool of silicon melt ( Pr =0.011) and silicone oil ( Pr =6.7) with depth d =10 mm differentially heated at the outer wall and cooled at the inner wall are investigated by 2-D numerical simulation. The numerical results exhibit that the thermocapillary flow is enhanced by buoyancy force for silicon melt while it is weakened for silicone oil. Linear stability analysis indicates that the buoyancy force destabilizes the thermocapillary convection, which is different from that for silicone oil. The detailed reason of different influence of buoyancy force on the thermocapillary flow with different Pr numbers is explained according to present numerical results.