Interfacial instability due to evaporation and convection: linear and nonlinear analyses

Interfacial instability arising from evaporation of a single component liquid is investigated using linear and weakly nonlinear analysis. Evaporative convection is studied taking into account the fluid dynamics of both liquid and vapour phases as well as lateral rigid sidewalls. Both open and closed systems are addressed. The nature of the bifurcation and the change in heat flux in the nonlinear regime are determined. It is shown that depending upon the aspect ratio of the geometry, either supercritical or subcritical branching behaviour is possible.