Title: The effect of phase change on stability of convective flow in a layer of volatile liquid driven by a horizontal temperature gradient,
Abstract: Buoyancy-thermocapillary convection in a layer of volatile liquid driven by a
horizontal temperature gradient arises in a variety of situations. Recent
studies have shown that the composition of the gas phase, which is typically a
mixture of vapour and air, has a noticeable effect on the critical Marangoni
number describing the onset of convection as well as on the observed convection
pattern. Specifically, as the total pressure or, equivalently, the average
concentration of air is decreased, the threshold of the instability leading to
the emergence of convective rolls is found to increase rather significantly. We
present a linear stability analysis of the problem which shows that this trend
can be readily understood by considering the transport of heat and vapour
through the gas phase. In particular, we show that transport in the gas phase
has a noticeable effect even at atmospheric conditions, when phase change is
greatly suppressed.