Axisymmetric convective boundary layer in a vibrating fluid

A vibrating convective flow around a uniformly heated sphere in weightlessness conditions is studied theoretically for circularly polarized vibrations. It is found that the fluid motion has the form of two jets spreading from the sphere in opposite directions along the symmetry axis, perpendicular to the vibration polarization plane. For large characteristic temperature gradients, the flow becomes self-similar. The equations describing thermovibrational convection in the boundary layer approximation are derived. A class of self-similar solutions for a point heat source is found. The results obtained on the basis of the full equations and in the boundary layer approximation are compared.