Comparative analysis of buoyancy- and Marangoni-driven convective flows around autocatalytic fronts

Abstract

We introduce a reaction-diffusion-convection (RDC) model to study the combined effect of buoyancy- and Marangoni-driven flows around a traveling front. The model allows for a parametric control of the two contributions via the solutal Rayleigh number, Rac, which rules the buoyancy component and the solutal Marangoni number, Mac, governing the intensity of the velocity field at the interface between the reacting solution and air. Complex dynamics may arise when the bulk and the surface flows describe an antagonistic interplay. Typically, spatiotemporal oscillations are observed in the parameter region (Rac<0, Mac>0).