Marangoni instabilities of droplets on the liquid substrate under the action of a spatial temperature modulation

Abstract

The dynamics of a droplet on an inhomogeneously cooled liquid substrate is investigated numerically. The longwave approximation is applied. It is shown that spatial temperature modulation leads to the droplet's motion towards the region of lower temperature, which is accompanied by the change of the droplet shape. An intensive cooling from below can lead to periodic or quasiperiodic oscillations or the droplet's decomposition. A spatial temperature modulation can suppress the oscillatory instability.