Thermal Convection in an Annular Two-Layer System Under Combined Action of Buoyancy and Thermocapillary Forces

A set of two-dimensional numerical simulations of thermal convection of two immiscible liquid layers with a non-deformable interface was carried out in an annular cavity with the outer heated cylinder and the inner cooled cylinder using the finite-volume method. Bottom and top surfaces were bounded by two rigid and heat-insulated walls. The results show that the conversion of the thermal convection depends on the Marangoni number, the aspect ratio and the curvature of the annular cavity. For a sufficiently small Marangoni number, the flow is steady and there is one cell in each fluid layer. When the Marangoni number exceeds the critical value, the convective flow becomes instable and generates an unsteady multi-cell structure. In the case of the closed annular cavity, the value of the critical Marangoni number is higher than that in the infinite layer, and decreases with the increase of the aspect ratio.