The effect of residual contamination on Marangoni convection in a spherical liquid system

The thermocapillary convection which results from both a temperature field as well as residual contamination applied at the surface of a spherical liquid system in a microgravity environment has been studied both analytically and numerically. Such an investigation is relevant to containerless materials processing in a microgravity environment. The analysis is linear. Temperature and concentration fields are steady, but have a non-axisymmetric spatial variation. The compound fluid drop system as well as the simple drop system are studied. Results are compared to those of Marangoni flow, driven only by a thermal field.