Taishi Yano

Space experiment on the instability of Marangoni convection in large liquid bridge - MEIS-4: effect of Prandtl number -

Microgravity experiments on the thermocapillary convection in liquid bridge, called Marangoni Experiment in Space (MEIS), are carried out in KIBO of ISS. Three series of experiments, MEIS-1, 2, and 4, have been conducted so far. This paper reports the results obtained from MEIS-4, in which 20cSt silicone oil (Pr = 207) is used to generate large liquid bridges. They are suspended between coaxial disks that are 50mm in diameter, with their maximum length equal to 62.5mm. MEIS-4 aims at (1) determining the critical temperature difference for the onset of oscillatory flow; (2) realizing high Marangoni number conditions for high Pr fluid; (3) clarifying the effects of volume ratio, heating rate, hysteresis, and cooled disk temperature; and (4) observing whether the hydrothermal wave with azimuthal mode number m = 0 appears or not. The main results are presented and compared with those obtained in MEIS-1 and 2, which utilized liquid bridges of 5cSt silicone oil (Pr = 67).

Instability and associated roll structure of Marangoni convection in high Prandtl number liquid bridge with large aspect ratio

This paper reports the experimental results on the instability and associated roll structures (RSs) of Marangoni convection in liquid bridges formed under the microgravity environment on the International Space Station. The geometry of interest is high aspect ratio (AR = height/diameter ≥ 1.0) liquid bridges of high Prandtl number fluids (Pr = 67 and 207) suspended between coaxial disks heated differentially. The unsteady flow field and associated RSs were revealed with the three-dimensional particle tracking velocimetry. It is found that the flow field after the onset of instability exhibits oscillations with azimuthal mode number m = 1 and associated RSs traveling in the axial direction. The RSs travel in the same direction as the surface flow (co-flow direction) for 1.00 ≤ AR ≤ 1.25 while they travel in the opposite direction (counter-flow direction) for AR ≥ 1.50, thus showing the change of traveling directions with AR. This traveling direction for AR ≥ 1.50 is reversed to the co-flow direction when t...

Sensitivity of hydrothermal wave instability of Marangoni convection to the interfacial heat transfer in long liquid bridges of high Prandtl number fluids

This paper reports the sensitivity of hydrothermal wave (HTW) instability of Marangoni convection to the interfacial heat transfer in liquid bridges (LBs) of high Prandtl number fluids (Pr = 67, 112, and 207) formed under the microgravity environment on the International Space Station. The data for instability are collected for a wide range of AR and for TC = 15 and 20 °C, where AR is the aspect ratio (=height/diameter) of the LB and TC is the cooled disk temperature. A significant decrease in critical oscillation frequency as well as an appreciable decrease in the critical Marangoni number is observed for AR > 1.25. This drastic change of instability mechanisms is associated with the reversal of axial traveling direction of HTWs and roll-structures as reported previously. It is found that this reversal is closely related to the interfacial heat transfer, which is evaluated numerically through accounting for both convective and radiative components. A heat transfer ratio, QI/QH, is introduced as a dimensi...