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Pretransitional effects near the convective instability in binary mixtures
H.N.W. Lekkerkerker, W.G. Laidlaw
To cite this version:
H.N.W. Lekkerkerker, W.G. Laidlaw. Pretransitional effects near the convective instability in binary
mixtures. Journal de Physique, 1977, 38 (1), pp.1-7. �10.1051/jphys:019770038010100�. �jpa-00208555�
LE JOURNAL DE PHYSIQUE
PRETRANSITIONAL EFFECTS NEAR THE CONVECTIVE INSTABILITY
IN BINARY MIXTURES
H. N. W. LEKKERKERKER
Faculteit van de
Wetenschappen, Vrije
Universiteit teBrussel,
Pleinlaan2,1050 Brussel, Belgium
, and
W. G. LAIDLAW
Chemistry Department, University
ofCalgary, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada(Reçu
le 17 aofit1976, accepte
le 4 octobre1976)
Résumé. 2014 Les fluctuations prétransitionnelles sont obtenues dans le cas d’instabilité
Rayleigh-
Bénard pour un mélange binaire. Les résultats sont comparés avec ceux d’un fluide simple. Dans le système considéré les fluctuations de concentration sont amplifiées et bien que les fluctuations de vitesse augmentent de façon critique elles sont plus faibles d’un facteur d’ordre D/x. Le comportement du mode critique est comparé aux fluctuations du paramètre d’ordre obtenu par analyse classique
de transition de phase. La région autour de l’instabilité où le traitement classique des fluctuations du paramètre d’ordre n’est pas valable est accrue d’un facteur
(~/D)1/2
comparé à un fluide simple.Abstract. 2014 The pretransitional fluctuations of the
Rayleigh-Bénard
or convectiveinstability
are obtained for a binary mixture and compared to the one component case. There are now enhanced concentration fluctuations and although the velocity fluctuations are critically enhanced,
they
areweaker by a factor of
D/~.
The behaviour of the critical (soft) mode is compared to the fluctuations in the order parameter obtained for a classical analysis of a phase transition. The région around the instability where the classical treatment of the order parameter fluctuations is invalid is increased in the binary case by a factor of(~/D)1/2
over that of the pure fluid Rayleigh-Bénard instability.Classification Physics Abstracts
1. 650
1. Introduction. -
Recently
there has been agrowing
interest inpretransitional
effects nearhydro- dynamic regime
transitions[1].
It appears that thesepretransitional
effects bear astriking
resemblance to thoseoccurring
near second orderphase
transitionpoints. Indeed,
thehydrodynamic
fluctuations nearhydrodynamic instability points
show both a drama-tic enhancement as well as a
slowing down,
the twomost characteristic features of critical fluctuations near second order
phase
transitionpoints.
The
simplest example
of ahydrodynamic instability
is the
Rayleigh-Benard
or convectiveinstability [2]
which occurs in a horizontal fluid
layer
heated from below. When the temperaturegradient
reaches acertain critical value
stationary
convection sets inspontaneously.
The fundamentalphysical
process that lies at theorigin
of thisinstability
is the conversionof the energy released
by
thebuoyancy
force into the kinetic energy of the convective motion.Stationary
convection sets in when the rate of energy transfer from the
gravitational
fieldbegins
to balance the rate of viscousdissipation
of energyby
the convective motion.The convective
instability
in one-component systems has been studied for along
time but it isonly during
the last few years that the convective
instability
inbinary
mixtures has received attention[3].
TheRayleigh-Benard instability
inbinary
mixtures is of intrinsic interest because of thesignificant
differences with the sameinstability
in pure fluids. These diffe-rences are due to the concentration
perturbations
thatdecay
veryslowly compared
to temperatureperturba-
tions. This leads to the
possibility
that one may have aconvective
instability
eventhough
the overalldensity gradient
is notadverse,
and under certainconditions,
one may also find
overstability
rather than asimple exchange
ofstability,
which is theonly possibility
for the convective
instability
in pure fluids.Perhaps
the
simplest
situation is the case westudy here,
where the more dense componentdiffuses,
due to the Soreteffect,
to the cold(upper) plate.
In this instance onehas
only
anexchange
of stabilities.In this paper we
study
thehydrodynamic
fluctua-tions near the convective
instability point
in abinary
mixture
using
stochastichydrodynamic equations
in away similar to the
study by
Zaitsev and Shliomis[4]
Article published online by EDP Sciences and available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/jphys:019770038010100
2
of the
pretransitional
fluctuations in theRayleigh-
B6nard
instability
of the one component fluid. We obtain the concentrationfluctuations,
absent in thecase of a one component
fluid,
and consider those features of thevelocity
fluctuations which are mate-rially
affectedby
the presence of the additional component.In section 2 we present the linearized
hydrodynamic equations describing
the convectiveinstability
inbinary mixtures,
and consider the situation in which the concentrationperturbation
dominates.In section 3 we include
Langevin fluctuating forces
in thehydrodynamic equations
andderive,
from the
resulting
set of stochastic differential equa-tions,
anequation
for the branch of modes that become unstable nea? the transitionpoint.
The results arecompared
to those for the one componentRayleigh-
B6nard
problem.
In section 4 we discuss the
analogies
betweenpretransitional
effects near second orderphase
tran-sition
points
and nearhydrodynamic regime
transi-tion
points.
We then compare theapplicability
of theclassical
theory
to the treatment of thepretransitional region
for the one and two componentRayleigh-
B6nard
instability. Finally,
webriefly
comment on thepossibilities
and limitations of the use oflight
scatter-ing
and Brownian motion to observe the critical behaviour of thefluid
fluctuations near theinstability point.
2. The
Rayleigh-Binard instability in binary
mix-tures. - 2.1 LINEARIZED HYDRODYNAMIC EQUA- TIONS. - The
steady
state of the fluid in thestability region
is characterized as follows : a linear down- ward directed temperaturegradient
is maintainedsteadily,
themacroscopic
fluidvelocity
is zero, thegravitational
force is balancedby
thehydrostatic
pressure
gradient
and the thermal diffusion flow thatresults from the
imposed temperature gradient
isbalanced
by
a concentrationgradient. Labeling
thesteady
state variables with asuperscript s
one hasHere
To
denotes the value of thetemperature
at the referenceposition (taken
here at the lowerboundary
z =
0), fJ
is the value of the temperaturegradient,
g is the
gravitational
constant, n is a unit vectorpointing
in thepositive
z-directionand kT
is thethermal diffusion ratio for which we
neglect
thevariation with
temperature.
On theright
hand sideof eq.
(1d)
we haveneglected
the term that arises frombarodiffusion, which, however,
is smallcompared
to the term
arising
from thermal diffusion.Due to the
imposed
temperaturegradient
thefluid has uniaxial symmetry. In that case it is conve- nient
[5]
to use thefollowing
variables to describethe velocity field.
For symmetry reasons
(curl v)z
is notcoupled
to any. of the other
hydrodynamic
variables. Theremaining
five
hydrodynamic
variables(two velocity
and threethermodynamic variables)
arecoupled.
Thesecoupled equations
lead to two sound modes and three diffusive modes.However,
it can beargued [5]
that the sound modes do notplay a
role in the convectiveinstability
and thus we may omit the variables
corresponding
to the sound modes i.e. div v and pressure. Since curl curl =
grad
div -O2,
it follows that if oneomits div v the variable
(curl
curlv)z
becomes -V2W
where w is the vertical
component
of thevelocity.
We then end up with the
following coupled
set oflinearized
equations [6]
Here 0 is the
perturbation
in thesteady
state tempera- ture, y is theperturbation
in thesteady
state concen-tration,
x is the heat diffusion constant, v is the kinematic
viscosity
and D is the diffusion coefficient. Inwriting
down eqs.
(2a)-(2c)
we haveneglected
the variation in thethermodynamic
derivatives andtransport
coefficients due to theimposed temperature gradient.
We have also
neglected coupling,
due to the Soretand Dufour
effects,
between concentration and tem-perature perturbations
and retainedonly
thecoupling
due to the
imposed temperature gradient
and thegravitational
force between concentrationand
tem-perature perturbations
on the onehand,
and thevelocity
field on the other hand.Although only
thevertical
component w
of thevelocity
appears in theequations,
the horizontalcomponents
can be calculatedeasily
from w[7].
Here we choose c todescribe the concentration of the more dense compo- nent
(i.e.,
ac >0).
As mentioned in theintroduction,
we restrict ourselves to the case where the more dense
component
diffuses to the coldplate,
i.e. we considermixtures for which the thermal diffusion ratio is
positive.
For the sake ofsimplicity,
we consider afluid
layer
withhypothetical boundary
conditionssuch that w, 0
and y
can be written asHere K =
(xx, xy)
is the horizontal wave vector,x =
(x, y)
is the horizontalposition
vector and dis the thickness of the fluid
layer. Substituting
eq.(3)
in eqs.
(2a)-(2c)
one obtains thefollowing equations
for the Fourier components
Here the
hydrodynamic matrix, M,
isgiven by
where
2.2 STABILITY ANALYSIS. - We now review the
stability analysis
of the set ofcoupled
linearequations given
in eq.(4)
with thehydrodynamic
matrixgiven by
eq.(5).
One caneasily
show that theonly possibility
for
_M
to have anegative
root arises when the deter- minant ofM
becomes smaller than zero. This meansthat the
instability
is reached when det M =0,
i.e.where
is referred to as the Soret number. In the case we are
considering
S > 0.Introducing
theRayleigh
numberR =
gaPd4, it
follows[8]
that eq.(6)
is satisfied for xvThe lowest value of R is
obtained for n = 1
and I K I = I Kc I
=reI J2
d. ThisR,,,
for thebinary
system, differs from that for the pure fluidby
a factor( 1
+Sx/D )
whereSx/D
is thecontribution of
perturbations
in concentration rela- tive to those of temperature.(The
Soret number Sprovides
the relativedensity,
whereasx/D
is a reflec-tion of the relative
efficiency
of the concentration and temperatureperturbations
inutilizing
thegravity field.)
The criticalRayleigh
number of eq.(7)
isdependent
on the fluid considered and to removethis a more
appropriate
form forR,
for the systemwe are
considering (i.e.
S >0, #
>0),
would beSince,
for a normalfluid, S
is- 5 x 10 - ’
andxfD cf 102
we findSxfD cn
5 x10;
and for our pur- poses we will consider that we may writeSx/D >
1.3. Fluctuations near the
instability point. -
3.1 STOCHASTIC HYDRODYNAMIC EQUATIONS. - In order to
study
the fluid fluctuations we use a set of stochastichydrodynamic equations
that are obtainedby adding fluctuating
forces to thehydrodynamic equations describing
theinstability.
We havewhere
In this paper we assume that the intensities
Q
of the
fluctuating
forces remainregular
near theinstability point [we
comment on this further in section4]. Following
the argument of Zaitsev and Shliomis[4],
that the fluid remainslocally
inequili-
brium and that therefore one can
employ
theequili-
brium
expressions
for the intensities of thefluctuating
forces,
oneobtains, using
thefluctuation-dissipation
theorem,
4
where
kB
is Boltzmann’s constant,with p, and /12 the chemical
potentials
per unit massof
species
1(the
more densecomponent)
andspecies
2and cp is the
specific
heat at constant pressure.3.2 THE UNSTABLE MODE. - The set of three
coupled equations (8)
have threeeigen
valuesÂi(n, K),
i =
1, 2,
3 for each wave vectorx, n7r 71 . d
To eachof these
eigen-values
therecorresponds
aneigen
mode
u;(n,
K,t),
i =1, 2,
3. LetAl(n, K) [for
agiven
wave vector
(K, nn/d)]
be the smallesteigen
value.Then for R -+
Rc, Â1(1, xc)
-. 0 and we refer to theeigen
modesUl(l,
K,t), corresponding
to the branchof
eigen
valuesAI(l, x),
as the branch of unstablemodes,
we denoteul(l,
K,t) by ql(K, t)
andAl(l, x) by Ao(x).
Forql(K, t)
one can write thefollowing equation
where
The mode
tjJ( K , t)
is a linear combination ofw(l,
K,t), 0(l,
K,t)
andy(l,
K,t).
For R= R,,
and x = x,, theexpansion
coefficients(which
can beexpressed
in terms of the
eigen
vectors ofM)
aregiven by simple expressions
and since theeigen
vectors ofM are smoothly varying
functionsof K - Kc and (R - Rc)
we may use these
expansion
coefficients in the vici-nity
of thatpoint
as well and then we obtainSimilarly
theintensity Q’"
of the random force Pcan be written as a linear combination of
Q (w,w), Q(O,O)
andQ(",7). Using
eq.(12)
one obtainsFor
typical liquids
and thus the contribution of the random force asso-
ciated with the heat
equation
can beneglected;
ingeneral
will also be smaller than 1.
Thus,
to agood approxima- tion,
we may set.Qk’ = Q(-,-),
i.e. the dominant random force as far as the critical fluctuations areconcerned is the random force associated with the
velocity equation.
,Close to the transition
point
the fluctuationsin gl
are
anomalously large
and one canneglect
all otherfluctuations and mixed terms in
comparison
withthe fluctuations in
0.
From eq.(10)
one obtainsExpressing y(l,
K,t)
in terms ofgl(K, t)
onefinds,
close to the
instability point,
thatWe thus see that the concentration fluctuations show critical behaviour.
Turning
to thevelocity
fluctuationsone obtains
where
In order to compare this
expression
with thevelocity
fluctuations in the one component B6nard we
expand Ao(x)
in 8 =(R, - R)IR,
and K - Kc. Oneobtains,
for the limit
SZID >>
1and x v,
where
The
expressions
for thevelocity
fluctuations and for theÀo(x)
obtained in theneighbourhood
of theRayleigh-Benard instability
for the onecomponent
fluid are the same form as those of eqs.(16)
and(18)
where now, in the limit x v, one has
[9]
and
Since both C(w) and a are different here we see that the
velocity
fluctuations for the same values of 8and
(K - Kc)
are, in thebinary mixture,
weakerby
a factor
of DIX - 10-2.
4. Discussion. - 4.1 ANALOGY TO SECOND ORDER PHASE TRANSITIONS
(cf.
Ref.[la]).
- The pretran- sitionalregion
of a second orderphase
transitionof the
instability
type[10]
is characterizedby
twowell known effects : the fluctuations in the order
parameter
becomelarge;
andthey decay slowly.
The free energy takes the familiar
Landau-Ginzburg
form
[11]
were 11
is the order parameter and g =(T - TJ/Tc.
For the
susceptibility
one obtains for the kth
spatial
fourier component, the resultwhich
diverges
as T -Tc
and the wave vector kgoes to zero.
Employing
the free energy of eq.(22)
in the Einstein formulation for the
equilibrium
distribution function one finds the mean square fluctuation as
Since
X,(k) diverges
as 8 and k go to zero the meansquare fluctuation becomes
large
at theapproach
to the
phase
transition.The relaxation
time, 1/ À",
of the order parameter fluctuations can be extracted from theseequilibrium
results
by employing
the well known Van Hove result[12]
where L is the so-called kinetic coefficient. Then
using
eq.(23)
oneobtains, directly,
thatAssuming
L isregular
it is clear the as g and k go tozero at the
phase transition,
thedecay
constantA?l
-+0,
a result referred to as criticalslowing
down.Turning
now to thehydrodynamic
transition of the B6nardinstability
webegin by recalling that,
asthe
instability
isapproached,
the criticaleigenvalue £o (eq. (18))
goes to zero so thedecay
of fluctuations in the critical(soft)
mode iscertainly
slowed(i.e.
we havecritical
slowing down).
Further the mean square fluctuation in the critical mode can be obtained from eq.(14)
asHence, assuming Q’"
isregular [12],
asÂo(x) -+
0the mean square fluctuations of the critical mode will
diverge
as theinstability
isapproached.
In view ofthe very clear
analogy
between the behaviour of the critical mode at theinstability
and the order parameter at thephase
transition we equate the critical mode to the order parameter for thehydrodynamic regime
transition.In
addition,
the form of the criticaleigenvalue Ao(x),
in the
neighbourhood
of theinstability,
isexactly
the same, in terms of 8 and K - Kc as that of the
damping
factor of the orderparameter
in theneigh-
bourhood of the
phase
transition.4.2 LIMITATION TO THE CLASSICAL TREATMENT OF CRITICAL FLUCTUATIONS. - The use of a linear
Langevin equation
or itscompliment [13],
the distri- bution functionemploying
theLandau-Ginzburg
form
(Eq. 22)
of the free energy, assumes thathigher
order terms do not
play a significant
role in thedescription
of thepretransitional
fluctuations ofphase
transitions.Ginzburg [14] provided
a boundfor this classical critical
region by requiring,
for theordered
regime,
that the mean square fluctuations in the order parameter be much less than the square of the orderparameter
itself. A similar bound is obtained in the disorderedregime by comparing
fluctuations of second and
higher
orders[15].
We extend the
Ginzburg
criteria tohydrodynamic
transitions and calculate a bound for the classical
regime by requiring
that in the orderedphase
themean square fluctuation in the critical mode be much less than the square of the critical mode. We assume
that in the ordered
regime
theamplified mode, just
past the
instability,
is the critical mode obtained from the linear treatment of thepretransitional region.
Following
Chandrasekhar[16]
one calculates theamplitude
of the mode in the orderedphase by
recourseto the non-linear
hydrodynamic equations.
Thus oneobtains,
for the one componentBenard,
that the modulussquared
ofw(l, Kc),
theleading
term in thecritical
mode,
goes asA similar
procedure
for the orderedphase
in thebinary B6nard, again assuming
theXSID >> 1, gives
where C is a constant of order 102 whose
specific
value
depends
on the geometry of the system.6
The mean square fluctuation for the ordered
phase
may be
related, simply (a
factor of2)
to that for thedisordered,
i.e.pretransitional, phase,
and we havewhere
C(w)
andAO(K)
aredefined,
for the two and one component cases,by
eqs.(17)
to(21). Taking
theQ
(w,w)appearing
in eqs.(17)
and(20)
to be for a volumed3 (i.e. Q(w,w)
isgiven by
16n2/d2 times Q(w,w)
ofeq.
(9a))
wefind,
for theGinzburg
criteria for theone component case
and for the
binary
mixtureSince X >> D it is clear that the lower bound for s
is
larger
in the two component case.Inserting
valuesof p,
D,
v, etc.,appropriate
to a normalfluid,
intoeqs.
(30)
and(31)
andtaking d ~--
1 cm onefinds,
for the one component case the bound E >10-’
and for the
binary
mixture 8 »10-3. Although
thenon-linear
region
in both cases is rather small non-classical effects could be more accessible in the
binary
mixture.
4.3 EXPERIMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS. - Two fun- damental methods to
probe
fluid fluctuations arelight scattering
and Brownian motion. In fact these two methods arecomplementary
in thatlight
scatter-ing probes, principally,
fluctuations in the thermo-dynamic
variables whereas Brownian motionsamples
the fluctuations in the fluid
velocity
field.The
growth
of fluctuations in thethermodynamic
variables has been utilized
successfully
inlight
scatter-,ing
studies of second orderphase
transitions. The extension of these methods to thestudy
of the enhance- ment of fluctuations inhydrodynamic regime
transi-tions has been reviewed
recently [17]. Unfortunately,
because the
correlation length
is verylarge (of
orderde - 1/2,
i.e. muchlonger
than that forphase
transi-tions),
of thefluctuations, only
the fourier components with wave vectorsquite
close to the critical value aresignificantly
enhanced. Since the critical wave vector is of order d - 1 it is apparent,taking d
= 1 cm, thatlarge
fluctuations can beexpected only
for observa- tions atscattering angles
of10-3
to10 - 4
radians.Intensity
measurements at suchangles present
a non-trivial technicalproblem
and so far noexperi-
mental evidence for enhanced fluctuations near the convective
instability
have beenproduced [18].
Using
Faxen’s theorem the diffusion coefficient of Brownianparticles
can be related to the fluctuations in the fluidvelocity
field[19].
Due to the enhancement of the fluidvelocity
fluctuations near thehydrodyna-
mic
instability point
the diffusion coefficient consists of a critical contribution that within the framework of linear fluctuationtheory
increases ase - 3/2
as wellas the
regular
contributiongiven by
the Stokes- Einsteinexpression.
We write the diffusion coefficient of the Brownianparticles
aswhere the factor A can be calculated from the fluid
velocity
fluctuation correlation function and is pro-portional
toC(’)Ioc’
whereC(’)
and a are definedby
eqs.(17)
and(19)
for thebinary
mixture andby
eqs.
(20)
and(21)
for the onecomponent
fluid. It follows that thisratio
A is in factformally
the samefor the one and two component
Rayleigh-B6nard instability.
Aspointed
out in earlier work[19]
theenhancement of D is
significant.
Forexample
for thecase where d = 1 cm and the radius of the Brownian
particle
islb’ A
then for s = 10-3,
the critical part of D is of the order of 10%
of Dreg and for s =10-4
the critical part of D is of the order of 10 times D"9.
Thus the
study
of Brownian motion couldprovide
areal
opportunity
toprobe .the pretransitional region.
Acknowledgments.
- It is apleasure
to acknow-ledge
the stimulus for this workprofided by
conver-sations with J.-P. Boon. The
support
of a NATO grant * 806 isgratefully acknowledged.
References
[1] For a recent review see : (a) HAKEN, H., Rev. Mod. Phys.
47 (1975) 67; (b) The Proceedings of the NATO ASI Geilo, Norway 1975 on Physics of Non-Equilibrium Systems, Fluctuations, Instabilities and Phase Transitions, published by Plenum Press (Ed. Tormod Riste).
[2] CHANDRASEKHAR, S., Hydrodynamics and Hydromagnetic Sta- bility (Clarendon Press, Oxford) 1961, chapter 2.
[3] For a review see SCHECTER, R. S. et al., « The Two Component
Bénard Problem », Adv. Chem. Phys. 26 (1974) 265, Ed. I. Prigogine and S. A. Rice (Interscience, New York)
1974.
[4] ZAITSEV, V. M. and SHLIOMIS, M. I., JETP 32 (1971) 866.
[5] LEKKERKERKER, H. N. W. and BOON, J.-P., Phys. Rev. A 10 (1974) 1355.
[6] LANDAU, L. and LIFSHITZ, E., Fluid Mechanics (Pergammon, London) 1959, Chaps. V & VI.
[7] Reference [2], Section 10.
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[9] LEKKERKERKER, H. N. W. and BooN, J.-P., Reference
[1(b)],
p. 205.
[10] DE GENNES, P. G., Reference [1(b)], p.1.
[11] LANDAU, L. and LIFSHITZ, E., Statistical Physics (Pergammon, London) 1959, Sec. 119.
[12] VAN HovE, L., Phys. Rev. 93 (1954) 1374.
[13] See for example, WANG, M. C. and UHLENBECK, G. E., in Noise and Stochastic Processes (ed. N. Wax, Dover, New York) 1954.
[14] GINZBURG, V. L., Sov. Phys. Solid State 2 (1960) 1824.
[ 15]
LEVANYUK,
A. P., JETP 36 (1959) 571.[16] Reference [2], Appendix 1.
[17] BOON, J.-P., « Light Scattering from Non-Equilibrium Fluid Systems », Adv. Chem. Phys. 32 (1975) 87, ed. I. Prigogine
and S. A. Rice (Interscience, New York).
[18] However electrohydrodynamical instabilities in nematic liquid crystals have been successfully probed ; see SMITH, J. W., GALERNE, Y., LAGERWALL, S. F., DUBOIS-VIOLETTE, E.
and DURAND, G., J. Physique Colloq. (1975) C 1-237.
[19] LEKKERKERKER, H. N. W., Physica 80A (1975) 415 ; LEKKER- KERKER, H. N. W. and BOON, J.-P., Phys. Rev. Lett.
29 (1976) 724.