Oriol Batiste, Arantxa Alonso and Isabel Mercader
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
 

The Soret coefficient of a binary mixture can be measured indirectly by considering its effect on  the hydrodynamics induced by free convection. We have analyzed the stability of two configurations commonly used for such measurements, the thermogravitational column and the Bénard cell. We have numerically integrated the three-dimensional partial differential equations that describe these systems in order to provide accurate data of stability boundaries suitable for comparison with experimental measurements.