Onset of Convection in Two Liquid Layers with Phase Change

We perform linear stability calculations for horizontal fluid bilayers that can undergo a phase transformation, taking into account both buoyancy effects and thermocapillary effects in the presence of a vertical temperature gradient. We compare the familiar case of the stability of two immiscible fluids in a bilayer geometry with the less-studied case that the two fluids represent different phases of a single-component material, e.g., the water-steam system. The two cases differ in their interfacial boundary conditions: the condition that the interface is a material surface is replaced by the continuity of mass flux across the interface, together with an assumption of thermodynamic equilibrium that in the linearized equations represents the Clausius-Clapeyron relation relating the interfacial temperature and pressures. For the two-phase case, we find that the entropy difference between the phases plays a crucial role in determining the stability of the system. For small values of the entropy difference between the phases, the two-phase system can be linearly unstable to either heating from above or below. The instability is due to the Marangoni effect in combination with the effects of buoyancy (for heating from below). For larger values of the entropy difference the two-phase system is unstable only for heatingmore » from below, and the Marangoni effect is masked by effects of the entropy difference. To help understand the mechanisms driving the instability on heating from below we have performed both long-wavelength and short-wavelength analyses of the two-phase system. The short-wavelength analysis shows that the instability is driven by a coupling between the flow normal to the interface and the latent heat generation at the interface. The mechanism for the large wavelength instability is more complicated, and the detailed form of the expansion is found to depend on the Crispation and Bond numbers as well as the entropy difference. The two-phase system allows a conventional Rayleigh-Taylor instability if the heavier fluid overlies the lighter fluid; applying a temperature gradient allows a stabilization of the interface.« less