Assessment of the role of axial vorticity in the formation of particle accumulation structures in supercritical Marangoni and hybrid thermocapillary-rotation-driven flows

Evidence is provided that when the so-called phenomenon of particle accumulation structure (PAS) occurs, extended regions exist where 1/2 of the axial component of vorticity matches the angular frequency of the traveling wave produced by the instability of the Marangoni flow. Several cases are considered in which such axial component is varied by injecting vorticity into the system via rotation of one of its endwalls. The results show that both the resulting PAS lines and the trajectories of related solid particles undergo significant changes under the influence of imposed rotation. By analysis of such findings, a validation and a generalization/extension of the so-called phase-locking model are provided. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4769754]