Separation of mixtures in connected channels

The stationary modes of thermal convection of a binary mixture in connected channels of finite height were studied experimentally and theoretically. The effects of positive and negative thermal diffusion on the convection were examined. The ranges of parameters corresponding to the modes of soft and rigid initiation of convection were determined. Vertical distributions of the temperature and concentration fields were found for various values of the thermal diffusion parameter. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 68–77, January–February, 2009.