Abstract
An analytical and experimental study of thermally induced instability in horizontal two-fluid layers is reported. The earlier reported linear stability analysis is applied to predict the stability criteria of benzene-water and water-carbon tetrachloride layers. Calculations predict instability in benzene-water layers of whatever depth ratio of layers for heating from above or below, but only for heating from below in equi-depth water-carbon tetrachloride layers.
Results of experimental measurements of the critical Rayleigh and Marangoni numbers in these two-fluid layers of various total depths, heated from below, confirm the consistency of the theory both in clean and contaminated systems.
