The migration of a drop in a uniform temperature gradient at large Marangoni numbers

Abstract

The steady thermocapillary motion of a spherical drop in a uniform temperature gradient is treated in the situation where convective transport of energy is predominant in the drop phase as well as in the continuous phase, i.e., when the Marangoni numbers are large. It is assumed that the Reynolds numbers in both phases are large as well; to leading order, the velocity fields are given by a potential flow field in the continuous phase and Hill’s vortex inside the drop. The migration velocity of the drop is obtained by equating the rate at which work is done by the thermocapillary stress to the rate of viscous dissipation of energy. The analysis deals with an asymptotic situation wherein convective transport of energy dominates with conduction playing a role only where essential. This leads to thin thermal boundary layers both outside and within the drop. The method of matched asymptotic expansions is employed to solve the conjugate heat transfer problem in the two phases. It is shown that the demand for energy within the drop, necessary to increase its temperature at a steady rate as it moves into warmer surroundings, results in a large temperature difference between the surface of the drop and its interior. The variation of temperature over the drop surface is large as well, and leads to a linear increase of the migration velocity of the drop with increasing Marangoni number. This result is strikingly different from that for the limiting case when the viscosity and thermal conductivity inside the drop become negligible compared to the corresponding properties in the continuous phase. This limit, which holds for a gas bubble, is recovered correctly from the analysis.