Experimental investigation of Marangoni convection in nanofluids

Onset of regular convection in nanoparticle doped isotropic and anisotropic fluids with one free surface under absorption of light with Gaussian distribution of intensity due to temperature dependence of surface tension coefficient is experimentally studied. It is shown that nanoparticles essentially increase the thermal conductivity of the mixture, which leads to decrease of the velocity of convective motion. Dependence of velocity of hydrodynamic motions on intensity of laser beam and concentration of nanoparticles is also studied.