TY - EJOU AU - Kamotani, Y. AU - Matsumoto, S. AU - Yoda, S. TI - Recent Developments in Oscillatory Marangoni Convection T2 - Fluid Dynamics \& Materials Processing PY - 2007 VL - 3 IS - 2 SN - 1555-2578 AB - A Marangoni Convection Modeling Research group was formed in Japan in order to investigate oscillatory thermocapillary flow systematically over a wide range of Prandtl number (Pr). The research by the group represents the current status of the subject. The present article reports the work done by the group members. The work is divided into three Pr ranges (low, medium and high) because the cause of oscillations is different in each range. For the low-Pr case, the transition to oscillatory flow is preceded by a steady bifurcation to three-dimensional convection. For the first time an experimental proof of this first transition is provided by means of very precise measurements of temperature at different azimuthal positions. Then it is discussed that the causes of oscillations in low and medium Pr ranges are well understood. However, the oscillatory flow of high Pr fluid is not yet fully understood. The critical conditions for high Pr fluid are extremely sensitive to the free surface heat transfer in some situations but very insensitive in other situations. KW - Marangoni convection KW - liquid bridge KW - oscillations DO - 10.3970/fdmp.2007.003.147