Rayleigh-B\'enard thermal convection in emulsions: a short review

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in understanding thermally driven emulsions within Rayleigh-Bénard convection, highlighting complex rheology, stability, and morphological dynamics in natural and industrial contexts.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent research, offering new perspectives on the behavior of emulsions in thermal convection systems.

Findings

Emulsions exhibit concentration-dependent rheology affecting convection patterns.

Complex coupling between emulsion structure and buoyancy-driven flows leads to non-trivial phenomena.

Recent progress enhances understanding of stability and morphological evolution in thermal emulsions.

Abstract

Thermally driven emulsions arise in a broad range of natural and industrial contexts, yet their fundamental physical understanding remains only partially established. Emulsions exhibit a complex, concentration-dependent rheology, ranging from Newtonian (dilute emulsions) to yield-stress (concentrated emulsions). In buoyancy-driven flows, the complex structure and rheology of the emulsion are strongly coupled to convective flows, giving rise to fascinating and non-trivial phenomena involving stability, transient dynamics, and morphological evolution of the system. We review recent progress on thermally driven emulsions in the celebrated Rayleigh-B\'enard configuration, offering new perspectives on the behaviour of soft materials in thermal convection.