Thermocapillary flow in a liquid layer at minimum in surface tension

In the present paper a class of similarity solutions for the two-dimensional Navier-Stokes and energy equations describing thermocapillary flows in a liquid layer of constant width and infinite extent is presented. The layer is bounded by a horizontal rigid plate from one side and opened to the ambient gas from the other one. The physical properties of the liquid are assumed to be constant except the surface tension which varies as a quadratic function with temperature. It is supposed that a constant temperature gradient exists along either the liquid free surface (case I) or the rigid boundary (case II). In both cases, by means of a similarity transformation, the equations of motion and energy are reduced to a system of three ordinary differential equations, one for the velocity and two for the temperature. The equation for the velocity can be solved separately from the other equations and its solution, found numerically, exists only for the Marangoni number less than a certain finite value. The solution of the whole system depends also on the Prandtl number. The solution of one of the temperature equations is presented in an analytical form and the other equation is solved numerically. Asymptotic formulas of the functions are also obtained for small and large Marangoni numbers. Flow pattern and temperature fields are presented. One convective roll exists in every semi-infinite layer. Fluid velocities at different points of the free surface are evaluated for an aqueous solution of n-heptanol and compared with those measured in the experiments.