Influence of the Electromagnetic, G-Jitter or Thermocapillary Forces on the Stability of the Stationary Buoyancy Convection

Abstract

Microgravity conditions seem to be very useful for crystal growth processes. Reduced gravitational force strongly weakens the buoyancy convection, so the convective oscillations in the melt become impossible [1]. This is the main reason of numerous attempts to obtain monocrystal materials with homogeneous internal structure in microgravity. On the other hand for non-isothermal fluid in microgravity conditions other driving forces become more significant than on the Earth. The main of them are thermocapillarity and g-jitter. The thermocapillary forces exist on the non-uniformly heated free liquid surfaces and cause motion of the fluid. The g-jitter appears in space unavoidably because of the vibrations of a spacecraft. So, the investigation of combined gravitational — thermocapillary and gravitational — g-jitter convective flows is necessary for better control of crystal growth processes in microgravity.