Fig. 5: Schematics of experimental setup.
From: Revisiting the NASA surface tension driven convection experiments
a An angled view of the simplified STDC experimental setup used on the 1992 USML-1 spacelab mission. A CO2 laser (red) is used to heat the silicone oil shown in the copper container (blue). A second, low power laser (green) is used to create a laser sheet which illuminates the Marangoni-convection flow. A camera records the experiment from below, looking through the clear bottom of the container. b A side cross-section of the experiment using a heater rod (CT). The heater rod (red) is inserted in the center of the cylindrical tank to create a constant temperature at the center and induce flow. The bottom of the tank is insulated. Curved blue lines show different curved surface configurations. c A side cross-section of the experiment using a heating laser (CF). The laser beam shines into the center of the tank to generate a constant heat flux at the center and induce the Marangoni flow. The bottom of the tank is insulated. Curved blue lines show different curved surface configurations.
