Coriolis Effect on the Stability of Centrifugally Driven Convection in a Rotating Anisotropic Porous Layer Subjected to Gravity

We investigate natural convection in a fluid saturated rotating anisotropic porous layer subjected to centrifugal gravitational and Coriolis body forces. The Darcy model (including the centrifugal, gravitational and Coriolis terms; and permeability anisotropy effects) and a modified energy equation (including the effects of thermal anisotropy) is used in the current analysis. The linear stability theory is used to evaluate the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection in the presence of thermal and mechanical anisotropy. It is shown that the preferred solution comprises roll cells aligned parallel to the vertical z-axis. As a result, it is found that the Coriolis acceleration (or Taylor number) and the gravitational term play no role in the stability of convection.     

Modulated Centrifugal Convection in a Vertical Rotating Porous Layer Distant from the Axis of Rotation

The effect of rotation speed modulation on the onset of centrifugally driven convection has been studied using linear stability analysis. Darcy flow model with zero-gravity is used to describe the flow. The perturbation method is applied to find the correction in the critical Rayleigh number. It is found that by applying modulation of proper frequency to the rotation speed, it is possible to delay or advance the onset of centrifugal convection.     

Combined Free and Forced Convection in Vertical Channels of Porous Media

In this paper we investigate the combined free and forced convection of a fully developed Newtonian fluid within a vertical channel composed of porous media when viscous dissipation effects are taken into consideration. The flow is analysed in the region of a first critical Rayleigh number in order to interpret the multiple-valued solutions and discuss their validity. The governing fourth-order, ordinary differential equation, which contains the Darcy and the viscous dissipation terms, is solved analytically using perturbation techniques and numerically using D02HBF NAG Library. A detailed investigation of the governing O.D.E. is performed on both clear fluid and porous medium for various values of the viscous dissipation parameter, , when the wall temperature decreases linearly with height, and the pressure gradient is both above and below its hydrostatic value. Although mathematically the results in all cases show that there are two solution branches, producing four possible solutions, the study of the velocity and buoyancy profiles together with the Darcy effect indicate that only one of the two solutions at any value of the Rayleigh number appears to be physically acceptable. It is shown that the effect of the Darcy number decreases as the critical Rayleigh numbers increase.     

Effect of Thermal Modulation on the Onset of Convection in a Viscoelastic Fluid Saturated Porous Layer

The effect of thermal modulation on the onset of convection in a horizontal, anisotropic porous layer saturated by a viscoelastic fluid is investigated by a linear stability analysis. Darcy’s law with viscoelastic correction is used to describe the fluid motion. The perturbation method is used to find the critical Rayleigh number and the corresponding wavenumber for small amplitude thermal modulation. The stability of the system characterized by a correction Rayleigh number is calculated as a function of the thermal and mechanical anisotropy parameters, the viscoelastic parameters and the frequency of modulation. It is found that the onset of convection can be delayed or advanced by the factors represented by these parameters. The results of the problem have possible implications in mantle convection.     

The Effect of Thermal Expansion on Porous Media Convection. Part 2: Thermal Convection Solution

The impact of thermal expansion and the corresponding non-Boussinesq effects on porous media convection are considered. The results show that the non-Boussinesq effects decouple from the rest, and solving the Boussinesq system separately is needed even when non-Boussinesq effects are being investigated. The thermal expansion is shown to have a lasting impact on the post-transient convection only for values of Rayleigh number substantially beyond the convection threshold, where the amplitude of convection is not small. In the neighbourhood of the convection threshold the thermal expansion has only a transient impact on the solution. It is also evident from the results that the neglect of the time derivative term in the extended Darcy equation might introduce a significant error when oscillatory effects are present.     

Radiative Effect on Natural Convection Flows in Porous Media

A regular two-parameter perturbation analysis based upon the boundary layer approximation is presented here to study the radiative effects of both first- and second-order resistances due to a solid matrix on the natural convection flows in porous media. Four different flows have been studied, those adjacent to an isothermal surface, a uniform heat flux surface, a plane plume and the flow generated from a horizontal line energy source on a vertical adiabatic surface. The first-order perturbation quantities are presented for all these flows. Numerical results for the four conditions with various radiation parameters are tabulated.     

Thermal Convection in a Plane Layer Rotating About a Horizontal Axis

The thermal convection of a fluid in a plane vertical layer with a cylindrical lateral boundary, which rotates uniformly about a horizontal symmetry axis, is investigated experimentally. The structure and excitation limit of the convective flows are studied as functions of the rotation frequency, the temperature difference between the layer boundaries, and the layer thickness. The determining dimensionless parameters are found. It is shown that the period-average gravity action produces convection in the form of hexagonally distributed cells stationary in the reference system tied to the cavity.     

On the Nield-Kuznetsov Theory for Convection in Bidispersive Porous Media

We revisit the problem of thermal convection in a bidispersive porous medium, first addressed by Nield and Kuznetsov (Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 49: 3068–3074, 2006). We investigate the possibility of oscillatory convection by using a highly accurate Chebyshev tau numerical method. We also develop a nonlinear energy stability theory for the same problem. This yields a global stability threshold below which instabilities cannot arise. These thresholds together with the linear instability boundaries yield a zone where thermal instability may be found. The results and theory of Nield and Kuznetsov (Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 49: 3068–3074, 2006) are thus proven to be a highly important development in the modern theory of designer porous materials, cf. Nield and Bejan (Convection in Porous Media, Springer, New York, 2006), pp. 94–97. This work was supported in part by a Research Project Grant of the Leverhulme Trust—Grant Number F/00128/AK.     

Stability of Gravity Driven Convection in a Cylindrical Porous Layer Subjected to Vibration

The linear stability theory is used to investigate analytically the effects of gravity modulation on convection in a homogeneous cylindrical porous layer heated from below. The linear stability results show that increasing the frequency of vibration stabilizes the convection. In addition the aspect ratio of the porous cylinder is shown to influence the stability of convection for all frequencies analysed. It was also observed that only synchronous solutions are possible in cylindrical porous layers, with no transition to subharmonic solutions as was the case in Govender (2005a) [Transport Porous Media 59(2), 227–238] for rectangular layers or cavities.     

The Onset of Convection in an Anisotropic Porous Layer Using a Thermal Non-Equilibrium Model

The stability of a horizontal fluid saturated anisotropic porous layer heated from below and cooled from above is examined analytically when the solid and fluid phases are not in local thermal equilibrium. Darcy model with anisotropic permeability is employed to describe the flow and a two-field model is used for energy equation each representing the solid and fluid phases separately. The linear stability theory is implemented to compute the critical Rayleigh number and the corresponding wavenumber for the onset of convective motion. The effect of thermal non-equilibrium and anisotropy in both mechanical and thermal properties of the porous medium on the onset of convection is discussed. Besides, asymptotic analysis for both very small and large values of the interphase heat transfer coefficient is also presented. An excellent agreement is found between the exact and asymptotic solutions. Some known results, which correspond to thermal equilibrium and isotropic porous medium, are recovered in limiting cases.     

The Effect of Magnetic Field Dependent Viscosity on Thermosolutal Convection in a Ferromagnetic Fluid Saturating a Porous Medium

The effect of magnetic field dependent viscosity on thermosolutal convection in a ferromagnetic fluid saturating a porous medium is considered for a fluid layer heated and soluted from below in the presence of uniform magnetic field. Using linearized stability theory and normal mode analysis, an exact solution is obtained for the case of two free boundaries. For case of stationary convection, medium permeability has a destabilizing effect, whereas a stable solute gradient and magnetic field dependent viscosity have a stabilizing effect on the system. In the absence of magnetic field dependent viscosity, the destabilizing effect of non-buoyancy magnetization is depicted but in the presence of magnetic field dependent viscosity non-buoyancy magnetization may have a destabilizing or stabilizing effect on the onset of instability. The critical wave number and the critical magnetic thermal Rayleigh number for the onset of instability are also determined numerically for sufficiently large values of buoyancy magnetization parameter M₁ and the results are depicted graphically. The principle of exchange of stabilities is found to hold true for the ferromagnetic fluid saturating a porous medium heated from below in the absence of stable solute gradient. The oscillatory modes are introduced due to the presence of the stable solute gradient, which were non-existent in its absence. A sufficient condition for the non-existence of overstability is also obtained. The paper also reaffirms the qualitative findings of earlier investigations which are, in fact, limiting cases of the present study.     

Coriolis Effect on Convection in a Rotating Porous Layer Subjected to Variable Gravity

We consider the effects of rotation in a porous layer heated from below and subjected to a variable gravity field. The study is presented for large Vadasz numbers where no oscillatory convection is possible. It is demonstrated that the Coriolis acceleration stabilizes the convection in a variable gravity field, whilst the effect of gravity parameter stabilses the convection when reduced and destabilizes the convection when increased.     

The effect of mechanical and thermal anisotropy on the stability of gravity driven convection in rotating porous media in the presence of thermal non-equilibrium

We investigate Rayleigh–Benard convection in a porous layer subjected to gravitational and Coriolis body forces, when the fluid and solid phases are not in local thermodynamic equilibrium. The Darcy model (extended to include Coriolis effects and anisotropic permeability) is used to describe the flow, whilst the two-equation model is used for the energy equation (for the solid and fluid phases separately). The linear stability theory is used to evaluate the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection and the effect of both thermal and mechanical anisotropy on the critical Rayleigh number is discussed.     

On the Linear Stability of Large Stefan Number Convection in Rotating Mushy Layers for a New Darcy Equation Formulation

The Coriolis effect on a solidifying mushy layer is considered. A near-eutectic approximation and large far-field temperature is employed in the current study for large Stefan numbers. The linear stability theory is used to investigate analytically the Coriolis effect on convection in a rotating mushy layer for a new formulation of the Darcy equation. It was found that a large Stefan number scaling allows for the presence of both the stationary and oscillatory modes of convection. In contrast to the problem of a stationary mushy layer, rotating the mushy layer has a stabilising effect on convection. It was observed that increasing the Taylor number or the Stefan number encouraged the oscillatory mode of convection.     

Stability of Solutal Convection in a Gravity Modulated Mushy Layer During the Solidification of Binary Alloys

The linear stability theory is used to investigate analytically the effects of gravity modulation on solutal convection in the mushy layer of solidifying binary alloys. The gravitational field consists of a constant part and a sinusoidally varying part, which is synonymous to a vertically oscillating mushy layer subjected to constant gravity. The linear stability results are presented for both the synchronous and subharmonic solutions. It is demonstrated that up to the transition point between the synchronous and subharmonic regions, increasing the frequency of vibration rapidly stabilizes the solutal convection. Beyond the transition point, further increases in the frequency tend to destabilize the solutal convection, but gradually. It is also demonstrated that the effect of increasing the ratio of the Stefan number and the solid composition (₀) is to destabilize the solutal convection.     

Percolation Approach to the Anisotropy Factor in an Unsaturated Porous Medium

The anisotropy factor is defined as the ratio of the effective (macroscopic) conductivities parallel to the bedding plane and perpendicular to it. The anisotropy factor A(p,a) is a function of both the saturation degree, p, in the void space of the disordered medium and the anisotropy parameter, a, that characterizes the ratio of the local conductivities parallel and normal to the bedding plane. There are two opposite behaviors of the anisotropy factor as a function of the saturation degree described in literature. One presents the anisotropy factor as a curve with a maximum and the other as a curve with a minimum. The main result of calculating the conductivities of a uniaxial percolation anisotropic model is that at the saturation threshold value, p_c, A(p_c, a) = 1, wherefrom it increases at a >1 (or decreases at a < 1) with saturation. An extension of the computed results below the threshold is also proposed.     

Analytical Solution for the Effect of Viscous Dissipation on Mixed Convection in Saturated Porous Media

A new analytical solution is introduced for the effect of viscous dissipation on mixed convection flow and heat transfer about an isothermal vertical wall embedded in Darcy and non-Darcy porous media with uniform free stream velocity. The effect of viscous dissipation on mixed convection in both regimes has been analyzed for both the aiding and opposing flows using Gebhart number, Ge _x =gx/c _p. The governing parameters are Re, Ra, Pe and Ge _x . The case of Re=0 corresponds to Darcy mixed convection region and Re/Pe is identified as the mixed convection governing parameter, Ra=0 leading to pure forced convection. A good agreement was found between the numerical and analytical solutions. It was found from the Nusselt number results that viscous dissipation lowers the heat transfer rate in both Darcy and Forchheimer flow regimes for aiding as well as opposing flows.     

Coriolis Effects on Filtration Law in Rotating Porous Media

We investigate the filtration law of incompressible viscous Newtonian fluids in rigid non-inertial porous media, for example, rotating porous media. The filtration law is obtained by upscaling the flow at the pore scale. We use the method of multiple scale expansions which gives rigorously the macroscopic behaviour without any prerequisite on the form of the macroscopic equations. For finite Ekman numbers the filtration law is shown to resemble a Darcy's law, but with a non-symmetric permeability tensor which depends on the angular velocity of the porous matrix. We obtain the filtration analog of the Hall effect. For large Ekman numbers the filtration law is a small correction to the classical Darcy's law. The corrector is antisymmetric. In this case we recover a structure of law which is similar to phenomenological laws introduced in the literature, but with a dissimilar effective coefficient.     

The Effect of Local Thermal Nonequilibrium on the Stability of Convection in a Vertical Porous Channel

We consider the effect of local thermal nonequilibrium on the stability properties of convection in a vertical porous channel heated and cooled from the sides. On using an energy stability analysis of the linearised stability equations, we show that the system remains unconditionally stable to small-amplitude disturbances.     

Study of the Effect of Thermal Dispersion on Internal Natural Convection in Porous Media Using Fourier Series

Transport in Porous Media - Natural convection in a porous enclosure in the presence of thermal dispersion is investigated. The Fourier–Galerkin (FG) spectral element method is adapted to...