| Abstract: | Instability of mechanical equilibrium and initiation of plane steady-state convective flows in an infinite horizontal fluid layer heated from below (Rayleigh-Benard problem) are investigated. The convection model for an isothermal incompressible fluid is not assumed to have small thermal expansion (contrary to the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation). The influence of a supplementary thermal expansion parameter on the convection process is numerically investigated. The results are compared with the known results for the Oberbeck-Boussinesq approximation. It is shown that subcritical instability is possible if the thermal expansion parameter increases. The linearization and Lyapunov-Schmidt methods are applied.Rostov-on-Don. Translated from Izvestiya Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 5, pp. 3–10, September–October, 1995. |
