TY - EJOU AU - Tiwari, Shaligram AU - Nishino, Koichi TI - Effect of Confined and Heated Ambient Air on Onset of Instability in Liquid Bridges of High Pr Fluids T2 - Fluid Dynamics \& Materials Processing PY - 2010 VL - 6 IS - 1 SN - 1555-2578 AB - The present work reports about an experimental study investigating the influence of air convection and of ambient temperature around a half-floating zone on the transition behavior from steady to oscillatory flow, i.e. the influence on the critical Marangoni number (Macr). Increase of heat loss from the free surface of the half-floating zone or liquid bridge by increased convection and ambient cooling decreases Macr. Heat input to the free surface increases Macr. An add-on numerical simulation of the air convection around the zone clarifies the influence of air convection and the ambient temperature on the temperature, surface velocity and local Biot number at the free liquid surface. KW - Thermocapillary convection KW - liquid bridge KW - heated ambient air KW - onset of oscillatory instability KW - interfacial heat transfer DO - 10.3970/fdmp.2010.006.109