Convection in thick and in thin fluid layers with a free surface – The influence of evaporation

Convective systems are examined by stability analysis as well as numerical solutions of the hydrodynamic basic equations in three spatial dimensions. Instabilities caused by surface tension gradients (Marangoni effect) are analyzed. The effect of evaporation of a volatile oil is studied by a two-layer system as well as by means of an effective Biot number. In thin fluid layers (a few 100 nm), an instability caused by the interaction between free surface and solid substrate manifests itself in form of surface deformation. We discuss this situation using the lubrication approximation. Special emphasis is layed on the influence of evaporation which may stabilize the system and which may lead to interesting new periodic structures.