Instability from Steady and Axisymmetric to Steady and Asymmetric Floating Half Zone Convection in a Fat Liquid Bridge of Larger Prandtl Number

The linear instability analysis of the present paper shows that the thermocapillary convection in a half floating zone of larger Prandtl number has a steady instability mode ω_i = 0 and m = 1 for a fat liquid bridge V = 1.2 with small geometrical aspect ratio A = 0.6. This conclusion is different from the usual idea of hydrothermal instability, and implies that the instability of the system may excite a steady and axial asymmetric state before the onset of oscillation in the case of large Prandtl number.