Bénard-Marangoni convection in two thin immiscible liquid layers with a uniform magnetic field (Q5955680)

This paper studies the effect of a uniform magnetic field on Bénard-Marangoni convection in a shallow cavity, with differentially heated side walls, filled with two viscous, immiscible, incompressible and electrically conducting fluids in the presence of buoyancy forces. It is assumed that the interface between the fluids and the free surface are flat, and that the driving forces for the flow are thermocapillary and the buoyancy forces. The authors present the governing equations under Boussinesq approximation along with boundary conditions. These equations are then simplified using the thin layer approximation, i.e. when the length of cavity is very large compared to the height of the cavity. In this case the problem reduces to that for two infinite layers with different fluids. Closed-form solutions are obtained in this particular case for the stream function and temperature. The authors obtain these solutions in some particular cases, namely in the absence of buoyancy force, in the absence of thermocapillary force, and in the absence of magnetic field. It is shown that these solutions coincide with the results existing in the literature. The obtained results are presented in six graphs and a table. The authors find, among other things, that there exist four different flow regimes depending on the surface tension temperature gradient ratio and the Hartmann number. It is shown that the fluid velocity changes sign once in each layer for all values of Hartmann number; the velocity is positive on the free surface whereas it is negative on the interface.