AbstractThe convective and absolute nature of instabilities in Rayleigh–Bénard–Poiseuille (RBP) mixed convection for viscoelastic fluids is examined numerically with a shooting method as well as analytically with a one-mode Galerkin expansion. The viscoelastic fluid is modelled by means of a general constitutive equation that encompasses the Maxwell model and the Oldroyd-B model. In comparison to Newtonian fluids, two more dimensionless parameters are introduced, namely the elasticity number${\it\lambda}_{1}$and the ratio${\it\Gamma}$between retardation and relaxation times. Temporal stability analysis of the basic state showed that the three-dimensional thermoconvective problem can be Squire-transformed. Therefore, one must distinguish mainly between two principal roll orientations: transverse rolls TRs (rolls with axes perpendicular to the Poiseuille flow direction) and longitudinal rolls LRs (rolls with axes parallel to the Poiseuille flow direction). The critical Rayleigh number for the appearance of LRs is found to be independent of the Reynolds number ($\mathit{Re}$). Depending on${\it\lambda}_{1}$and${\it\Gamma}$, two different regimes can be distinguished. In the weakly elastic regime, the emerging LRs are stationary, while they are oscillatory in the strongly elastic regime. For TRs, it is found that in the weakly elastic regime, the stabilization effect of$\mathit{Re}$is more important than in Newtonian fluids. Moreover, for sufficiently elastic fluids a jump is observed in the oscillation frequencies and wavenumbers for moderate$\mathit{Re}$. In the strongly elastic regime, the effect of the imposed throughflow is to promote the appearance of the upstream moving TRs for low values of$\mathit{Re}$, which are replaced by downstream moving TRs for higher values of $\mathit{Re}$. Moreover, the results proved that, contrary to the case where$\mathit{Re}=0$, the elasticity number${\it\lambda}_{1}$(the ratio${\it\Gamma}$) has a strongly stabilizing (destabilizing) effect when the throughflow is added. The influence of the rheological parameters on the transition curves from convective to absolute instability in the Reynolds–Rayleigh number plane is also determined. We show that the viscoelastic character of the fluid hastens the transition to absolute instability and even may suppress the convective/absolute transition. Throughout this paper, similarities and differences with the corresponding problem for Newtonian fluids are highlighted.
