Floquet analysis of spatially periodic thermocapillary convection in a low-Prandtl-number liquid bridge

Secondary instability of thermocapillary convection was investigated for a half-zone liquid bridge with low Prandtl number fluids. The liquid bridge was suspended between two cylindrical flat disks, which were maintained at different temperatures. The thermocapillary-driven flow formed an axisymmetric steady toroidal vortex. If the temperature difference between the two disks exceeded a certain threshold, the axisymmetric flow transitioned to an azimuthal periodic steady flow. The objective in the analysis of secondary instability is to examine the stability limit of this steady flow. Employing Floquet analysis, we obtained the neutral stability curves as a function of the aspect ratio (radius/height) of the liquid bridge and identified the critical modes. The critical modes of the Floquet analysis are referred to as critical Floquet modes and are classified by Floquet parameter β, which characterizes a set of azimuthal wave numbers of the Floquet mode. The Newton–Krylov method and Arnoldi method are impl...