Mechanism of transient stagnant formation in convection of binary mixtures

Abstract Two-dimensional convection rolls are usually stable near the critical Rayleigh number in single component fluids. However, in binary mixtures, it has been reported that the roll patterns become unstable over time and that stagnant domains are transiently formed. The formation of transient stagnant domains (TSD) occurs in systems where one component is more viscous than the other. Meanwhile, the mechanism of the TSD formation has been unclear yet. Here, we use experiments using well-mixed silicone oils and colloidal suspensions to show that the formation of transient stagnant regions is chiefly related to the concentration dependence of the kinematic viscosity rather than spatially averaged properties. Furthermore, we find that the concentration dependence of density is also related to the formation of stagnant regions. The coupling between density, viscosity and concentration fluctuations may play an important role for thermal convection in multi-component mixtures.