Abstract: | The stability of an axisymmetric thermocapillary flow driven by a point heat source located in the neighborhood of the free surface of a fluid filling a deep tank is investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that for certain values of the depth and power of the heat source thermocapillary convection becomes unstable with respect to oscillating perturbations of the surface shape. Perm’, Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 2, pp. 92–103, March–April, 2000. |