Pattern selection during thermocapillary-driven melting in microgravity
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We analyze pattern selection for thermocapillary flow in rectangular containers in microgravity. The bifurcation picture is characterized by a transition from steady flow to either standing (pulsating) or traveling type waves. These transitions are sometimes subcritical and accompanied by a saddle-node bifurcation, which delimits a region of bistability. We apply this bifurcation analysis to explain the dynamics observed during thermocapillary-driven melting of PCMs in microgravity.