Thermal convection during the directional solidification of a pure liquid with variable viscosity

1988 ◽  
Vol 188 ◽  
pp. 547-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc K. Smith

The onset of a buoyancy-driven instability during the directional solidification of a pure liquid with a strongly temperature-dependent viscosity and an arbitrary Prandtl number is investigated using linear stability theory. The Rayleigh number for this system contains the lengthscale Ls defined as the ratio of the thermal diffusivity of the liquid and the solidification velocity times the density ratio of the two phases. It is independent of the actual depth of the liquid and it reflects the fact that increasing the solidification velocity stabilizes the system. The theory also shows that the difference in material properties between the two phases and the properties of the solidifying interface itself cause the interface to look like a boundary of finite conductivity measured by a wavenumber-dependent Biot number. For large viscosity variations, convection occurs below a stagnant layer which forms just beneath the interface where the liquid is immobilized by its very large viscosity. The thickness of this layer is measured by the natural logarithm of the viscosity contrast in the liquid times the lengthscale Ls. In this limit, the influence of the solidifying boundary is shielded from the bulk liquid by the stagnant layer and so the effect of the Biot number on the critical Rayleigh number is small. However, inertial effects, being associated with the bulk liquid, are very important for small Prandtl numbers of the fluid far from the interface. The model has applications to the solidification of magma chambers or lava lakes and to the material processing of polymeric liquids.

The Bénard problem in hydrodynamic stability is formulated under conditions where the media bounding the fluid have finite thermal diffusivity. It is shown that the principle of the exchange of stabilities remains valid in this case so that instability in the fluid first sets in as stationary convection. Solutions are obtained for various values of the ratio of the thermal diffusivity of the fluid to that of the bounding media; the critical Rayleigh number at which the instability occurs is markedly reduced when this ratio is large.


Author(s):  
M. Neuroth ◽  
K. Recker ◽  
F. Wallrafen

AbstractImportant physico-chemical properties of the regular, lamellar eutectic LiF–LiBaFEutectic and off-eutectic LiF–LiBaFThe high melt viscosity leads to low Rayleigh numbers, Ra, which is orders of magnitude lower than the critical Rayleigh number, RaDuring eutectic growth theFurthermore the reason for the observed deviations of the volume fractions in the eutectic structure from exact eutectic melt compositions was studied. The enrichment of the LiBaFThe directional solidification of hypo- and hyper-eutectic melts indicate that the LiF (phase with higher undercooling) acts as nucleus for LiBaF


1997 ◽  
Vol 350 ◽  
pp. 271-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL MATTHEWS ◽  
STEPHEN COX

In many geophysical and astrophysical contexts, thermal convection is influenced by both rotation and an underlying shear flow. The linear theory for thermal convection is presented, with attention restricted to a layer of fluid rotating about a horizontal axis, and plane Couette flow driven by differential motion of the horizontal boundaries.The eigenvalue problem to determine the critical Rayleigh number is solved numerically assuming rigid, fixed-temperature boundaries. The preferred orientation of the convection rolls is found, for different orientations of the rotation vector with respect to the shear flow. For moderate rates of shear and rotation, the preferred roll orientation depends only on their ratio, the Rossby number.It is well known that rotation alone acts to favour rolls aligned with the rotation vector, and to suppress rolls of other orientations. Similarly, in a shear flow, rolls parallel to the shear flow are preferred. However, it is found that when the rotation vector and shear flow are parallel, the two effects lead counter-intuitively (as in other, analogous convection problems) to a preference for oblique rolls, and a critical Rayleigh number below that for Rayleigh–Bénard convection.When the boundaries are poorly conducting, the eigenvalue problem is solved analytically by means of an asymptotic expansion in the aspect ratio of the rolls. The behaviour of the stability problem is found to be qualitatively similar to that for fixed-temperature boundaries.Fully nonlinear numerical simulations of the convection are also carried out. These are generally consistent with the linear stability theory, showing convection in the form of rolls near the onset of motion, with the appropriate orientation. More complicated states are found further from critical.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 792-800 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. S. Wei ◽  
F. B. Yeh

The heat transfer coefficient at the bottom surface of a splat rapidly solidified on a cold substrate is self-consistently and quantitatively investigated. Provided that the boundary condition at the bottom surface of the splat is specified by introducing the obtained heat transfer coefficient, solutions of the splat can be conveniently obtained without solving the substrate. In this work, the solidification front in the splat is governed by nonequilibrium kinetics while the melting front in the substrate undergoes equilibrium phase change. By solving one-dimensional unsteady heat conduction equations and accounting for distinct properties between phases and splat and substrate, the results show that the time-dependent heat transfer coefficient or Biot number can be divided into five regimes: liquid splat-solid substrate, liquid splat-liquid substrate, nucleation of splat, solid splat-solid substrate, and solid splat-liquid substrate. The Biot number at the bottom surface of the splat during liquid splat cooling increases and nucleation time decreases with increasing contact Biot number, density ratio, and solid conductivity of the substrate, and decreasing specific heat ratio. Decreases in melting temperature and liquid conductivity of the substrate and increase in latent heat ratio further decrease the Biot number at the bottom surface of the splat after the substrate becomes molten. Time-dependent Biot number at the bottom surface of the splat is obtained from a scale analysis. [S0022-1481(00)01004-5]


1987 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 205-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. W. Walden ◽  
Paul Kolodner ◽  
A. Passner ◽  
C. M. Surko

Heat-transport measurements are reported for thermal convection in a rectangular box of aspect’ ratio 10 x 5. Results are presented for Rayleigh numbers up to 35Rc, Prandtl numbers between 2 and 20, and wavenumbers between 0.6 and 1.0kc, where Rc and kc are the critical Rayleigh number and wavenumber for the onset of convection in a layer of infinite lateral extent. The measurements are in good agreement with a phenomenological model which combines the calculations of Nusselt number, as a function of Rayleigh number and roll wavenumber for two-dimensional convection in an infinite layer, with a nonlinear amplitude-equation model developed to account for sidewell attenuation. The appearance of bimodal convection increases the heat transport above that expected for simple parallel-roll convection.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-512
Author(s):  
B.-W. Shen

Abstract. In this study, a six-dimensional Lorenz model (6DLM) is derived, based on a recent study using a five-dimensional (5-D) Lorenz model (LM), in order to examine the impact of an additional mode and its accompanying heating term on solution stability. The new mode added to improve the representation of the steamfunction is referred to as a secondary streamfunction mode, while the two additional modes, that appear in both the 6DLM and 5DLM but not in the original LM, are referred to as secondary temperature modes. Two energy conservation relationships of the 6DLM are first derived in the dissipationless limit. The impact of three additional modes on solution stability is examined by comparing numerical solutions and ensemble Lyapunov exponents of the 6DLM and 5DLM as well as the original LM. For the onset of chaos, the critical value of the normalized Rayleigh number (rc) is determined to be 41.1. The critical value is larger than that in the 3DLM (rc ~ 24.74), but slightly smaller than the one in the 5DLM (rc ~ 42.9). A stability analysis and numerical experiments obtained using generalized LMs, with or without simplifications, suggest the following: (1) negative nonlinear feedback in association with the secondary temperature modes, as first identified using the 5DLM, plays a dominant role in providing feedback for improving the solution's stability of the 6DLM, (2) the additional heating term in association with the secondary streamfunction mode may destabilize the solution, and (3) overall feedback due to the secondary streamfunction mode is much smaller than the feedback due to the secondary temperature modes; therefore, the critical Rayleigh number of the 6DLM is comparable to that of the 5DLM. The 5DLM and 6DLM collectively suggest different roles for small-scale processes (i.e., stabilization vs. destabilization), consistent with the following statement by Lorenz (1972): If the flap of a butterfly's wings can be instrumental in generating a tornado, it can equally well be instrumental in preventing a tornado. The implications of this and previous work, as well as future work, are also discussed.


1970 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. F. C. Somerscales ◽  
T. S. Dougherty

An experimental investigation has been made of the flow patterns at the initiation of convection in a layer of a high Prandtl number liquid confined between rigid, horizontal surfaces and heated from below. The experiment was designed to overcome the limitations of earlier experiments and to correspond closely to the conditions of the theory. In particular, the upper and lower rigid surfaces which enclosed the layer were made of copper which has a high thermal conductivity. To aid in the analysis of the experimental results some supplementary observations of the flow patterns were made using a glass upper plate. For small fluid depths and large temperature differences between the upper and lower surface the initial flow was in the form of hexagonal cells as predicted theoretically. With increasing Rayleigh number the cellular flow appeared to transform into rolls as predicted. For large fluid depths and small temperature differences only circular plan-form rolls were observed. This is in agreement with the results of other experimenters. It is tentatively proposed that this non-appearance of an initial cellular flow is due to the shape of the test chamber having a dominating influence on the flow pattern when the temperature gradient in the fluid is small. Measurements were also made of the development time for the flow patterns and the critical Rayleigh number.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pouya Amili ◽  
Yanis C. Yortsos

Abstract We study the linear stability of a two-phase heat pipe zone (vapor-liquid counterflow) in a porous medium, overlying a superheated vapor zone. The competing effects of gravity, condensation and heat transfer on the stability of a planar base state are analyzed in the linear stability limit. The rate of growth of unstable disturbances is expressed in terms of the wave number of the disturbance, and dimensionless numbers, such as the Rayleigh number, a dimensionless heat flux and other parameters. A critical Rayleigh number is identified and shown to be different than in natural convection under single phase conditions. The results find applications to geothermal systems, to enhanced oil recovery using steam injection, as well as to the conditions of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. This study complements recent work of the stability of boiling by Ramesh and Torrance (1993).


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