Bénard-Marangoni instability in a viscoelastic Jeffreys' fluid layer

Coupled buoyancy (Bénard) and thermocapillary (Marangoni) convection in a thin fluid layer of a viscoelastic fluid are studied. The viscoelastic fluid is modeled by Jeffreys' constitutive equation. The lower surface of the layer is in contact with a rigid heat-conducting plate while its upper surface is subject to a temperature-dependent surface tension. The critical temperature difference between both boundaries corresponding to the onset of convection is calculated. The role of the various viscometric coefficients is discussed. In the appendix it is shown that Jeffreys' constitutive relation is easily derived from thermodynamic considerations based on extended irreversible thermodynamics.