Open Access

ARTICLE

Review: Possible strategies for the control and stabilization of Marangoni flow in laterally heated floating zones

Marcello Lappa¹

1 MARS (Microgravity Advanced Research and Support Center)Via Gianturco 31 - 80146, Napoli, Italy E-mail: marlappa@marscenter.it, marlappa@unina.it

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2005, 1(2), 171-188. https://doi.org/10.3970/fdmp.2005.001.171

Abstract

The paper presents a comparative and critical analysis of some theoretical/experimental/numerical arguments concerning the possible stabilization of the surface-tension-driven (Marangoni) flow in the Floating Zone technique and in various related fluid-dynamic models. It is conceived as a natural extension of the focused overview published in Cryst. Res. Tech. 40(6), 531, (2005) where much room was devoted to discuss the intrinsic physical mechanisms responsible for three-dimensional and oscillatory flows in a variety of technological processes. Here, a significant effort is provided to illustrate the genesis of possible control strategies (many of which are still in a very embryonic condition), the underlying ideas, the governing nondimensional parameters, the scaling properties. Particular attention is devoted to their range of applicability that is still the subject of controversies in the literature. The discussion is supported by some novel numerical results. These simulations are used to provide additional insights into the physics of problems where experimental data are not available.

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