Effect of the combined thermal and mass concentration gradients on the stability of a chemically reacting fluid in a porous medium

Summary The onset of instability, due to the combined effects of thermal and mass concentration gradients, is investigated in the hydrodynamic stability regime. It is found that the critical Rayleigh number, which determines the onset of instability, increases as the chemical reaction rate constant increases hyperbolically over a wide range of values at both moderate and high permeabilities. In addition, the instability grows with increase in porosity. Previous results show that the critical Rayleigh number rises linearly when only the mass concentration gradient is considered.