Stability of Thermal Convection in a Fluid-Porous System Saturated with an Oldroyd-B Fluid Heated from Below

A linear stability analysis is conducted for thermal convection in a two-layer system composed of a fluid layer overlying a porous medium saturated with an Oldroyd-B fluid heated from below. It is found that the convection pattern in the system is controlled by the porous medium when the ratio of the depth of the fluid layer to that of the porous medium is small. However, the fluid layer takes a predominant role if the depth ratio exceeds a critical value. Compared with stationary convection, the switching point from a porous-dominated mode to a fluid-dominated mode for oscillatory convection is located at a lower depth ratio. The effects of different parameters on stationary convection and oscillatory convection are also investigated in detail.