The influence of fluid depth in a convection problem in which heating is nonuniform is studied. We consider a vessel that has at the bottom a temperature distribution which has Gaussian shape in the transversal direction and whose surface is open to the atmosphere. Coupled buoyancy and thermocapillary effects are taken into account. The results confirm a stationary bifurcation and a prelude of an oscillatory one as has been observed recently in convection with quasi-one-dimensional heaters.

• Received 18 September 1997

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.57.7336