KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ INSTABILITY OF A CONFINED NANO-LIQUID SHEET WITH THE EFFECTS OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER AND MARANGONI CONVECTION

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of a confined nano-liquid sheet in planar channels is investigated by utilizing the viscous potential theory. The present theoretical model considers the effects of heat and mass transfer, Marangoni effects, and boundary conditions at walls. The dispersion relation of the gas-liquid interface is obtained numerically as a solution to a nonlinear algebraic equation. Results show that there is a non-monotonic correlation of the instability growth rate with the Reynolds numbers in gas and liquid phases. The perturbed gas-liquid interface tends to be stable with the increase of the Prandtl number and the Lewis number in both gas and liquid phases. On the contrary, the gas thermal conduction and the Brownian diffusion enhance the instability of the gas-liquid interface. The temperature and mass gradient coefficients of surface tension show a promoting impact on the destabilization of the interface. In addition, it is demonstrated that the increase of gas layer thickness noticeably decreases the instability of the interface.