The Effect of Differences in the Diffusion Coefficients of Components on the Onset of Convection in Isothermal Multicomponent Systems

Abstract

Two series of experiments on the formation of convective flows in multicomponent liquid and gaseous mixtures are considered. In the first series, the convective structures arising during the diffusion of a binary aqueous solution of salt and sugar in an aqueous solution of pure salt were studied using the schlieren method. The observed behavior of convective cells corresponds to the instability similar to the "finger structures". In the second series, the experiments were conducted to determine the effective diffusion coefficients as a function of pressure in gas mixtures 0.5504 CH4 + 0.4496 Ar – N2 and 0.5994 H2 + 0.4006 Ar – N2. Our experiments have shown that the onset of convective flows both in liquid and gaseous multicomponent mixtures is due to the difference in the interdiffusion coefficients of the components. The experimental data for the ternary gas mixtures are described in the framework of the linear theory of stability.