Boundary shape of thermocapillary cell formed as a result of symmetric distributed heating of the free surface (Q1183890)

The aim of the present research was to make a theoretical study of the deformation of the free boundary by the thermocapillary motion in the presence of symmetric distributed heating. The case of a surface heat source (for example, a liquid nontransparent for laser radiation) is investigation. The plane problem is considered for relatively weak heating, when convective heat transfer can be neglected and the motion of the liquid takes the form of creeping flow. This problem admits a closed solution which generalizes the description of the structure of the thermocapillary cell in the nondeformable free boundary approximation.