Convective dynamics of traveling autocatalytic fronts in a modulated gravity field

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Dezső Horváth - , University of Szeged (Author)
  • Marcello A. Budroni - , Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), University of Sassari (Author)
  • Péter Bába - , University of Szeged (Author)
  • Laurence Rongy - , Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (Author)
  • Anne De Wit - , Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (Author)
  • Kerstin Eckert - , Chair of Magnetofluiddynamics, Measuring and Automation Technology (Author)
  • Marcus J.B. Hauser - , Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (Author)
  • Ágota Tóth - , University of Szeged (Author)

Abstract

When traveling in thin solution layers, autocatalytic chemical fronts may be deformed and accelerated by convective currents that develop because of density and surface tension gradients related to concentration and thermal gradients across the front. On earth, both buoyancy and Marangoni related flows can act in solution layers open to the air while only buoyancy effects operate in covered liquid layers. The respective effects of density and surface tension induced convective motions are analysed here by studying experimentally the propagation of autocatalytic fronts in uncovered and covered liquid layers during parabolic flights in which the gravity field is modulated periodically. We find that the velocity and deformation of the front are increased during hyper-gravity phases and reduced in the micro-gravity phase. The experimental results compare well with numerical simulations of the evolution of the concentration of the autocatalytic product coupled to the flow field dynamics described by Navier-Stokes equations.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26279-26287
Number of pages9
JournalPhysical Chemistry Chemical Physics
Volume16
Issue number47
Publication statusPublished - 13 Nov 2014
Peer-reviewedYes