Rayleigh–Bénard convection and pattern formation in magnetohydrodynamics

1998 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-539 ◽  
Author(s):  
RENU BAJAJ ◽  
S. K. MALIK

A nonlinear thermal instability in a layer of electrically conducting fluid in the presence of a magnetic field is discussed. Steady-state bifurcation results in the formation of patterns: rolls, squares and hexagons. The stability of various patterns is also investigated. It is found that in the absence of a magnetic field only rolls are stable, but when the magnetic field strength exceeds a certain finite value, squares and hexagons also become stable.

2007 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
S. Pranesh

The effects of magnetic field and non-uniform basic temperature gradient on the onset of Rayleigh-Benard convection in an electrically conducting micro polar fluid are studied using the Garlerkin technique. The eigenvalue is obtained for free-free, rigid-free and rigid-rigid velocity boundary combinations with isothermal and adiabatic temperature conditions on the spin-vanishing boundaries. The eigenvalues are also obtained for lower rigid isothermal and upper free adiabatic boundaries with vanishing spin. A linear stability analysis is performed. The influence of various parameters on the onset of convection has been analysed. Six different non-uniform temperature profiles are considered and their comparative influence on onset is discussed. It is observed that the electrically conducting fluid layer with suspended particles heated from below is more stable compared to the classically electrically conducting fluid without suspended particles. The critical wave number is found to be insensitive to the changes in the parameters but sensitive to the changes in the Chandrasekhar number.


2010 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahinder Singh ◽  
Pardeep Kumar

The problem of thermal instability of compressible, electrically conducting couple-stress fluids in the presence of a uniform magnetic field is considered. Following the linearized stability theory and normal mode analysis, the dispersion relation is obtained. For stationary convection, the compressibility, couple-stress, and magnetic field postpone the onset of convection. Graphs have been plotted by giving numerical values of the parameters to depict the stability characteristics. The principle of exchange of stabilities is found to be satisfied. The magnetic field introduces oscillatory modes in the system that were non-existent in its absence. The case of overstability is also studied wherein a sufficient condition for the non-existence of overstability is obtained.


In this paper the theory of the stability of viscous flow between two rotating coaxial cylinders which has been developed by Taylor, Jeffreys and Meksyn is extended to the case when the fluid considered is an electrical conductor and a magnetic field along the axis of the cylinders is present. A differential equation of order eight is derived which governs the situation in marginal stability; and a significant set of boundary conditions for the problem is formulated. The case when the two cylinders are rotating in the same direction and the difference ( d ) in their radii is small compared to their mean (R 0 ) is investigated in detail. A variational procedure for solving the underlying characteristic value problem and determining the critical Taylor numbers for the onset of instability is described. As in the case of thermal instability of a horizontal layer of fluid heated below, the effect of the magnetic field is to inhibit the onset of instability, the inhibiting effect being the greater, the greater the strength of the field and the value of the electrical conductivity. In both cases, the inhibiting effect of the magnetic field depends on the strength of the field ( H ), the density ( ρ ) and the coefficients of electrical conductivity ( σ ), kinematic viscosity ( v ) and magnetic permeability ( μ ) through the same non-dimensional combination Q =μ 2 H 2 d 2 σ/ pv ; however, the effect on rotational stability is more pronounced than on thermal instability. A table of the critical Taylor numbers for various values of Q is provided.


1958 ◽  
Vol 36 (11) ◽  
pp. 1509-1525 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. R. Niblett

Chandrasekhar's theory of the stability of viscous flow of an electrically conducting fluid between coaxial rotating cylinders with perfectly conducting walls is extended to include the case of non-conducting walls, and it is found that their effect is to reduce the critical Taylor numbers and increase the wavelength of the instability patterns by considerable amounts. An experiment designed to measure the values of magnetic field and rotation speed at the onset of instability in mercury between perspex cylinders is described. The radioactive isotopes Hg197 and Hg203 were used to trace the flow. The results support the theoretical prediction that the boundary conditions can have a large effect on the motion.


Author(s):  
F. Pétrélis ◽  
S. Fauve

We present a review of the different models that have been proposed to explain reversals of the magnetic field generated by a turbulent flow of an electrically conducting fluid (fluid dynamos). We then describe a simple mechanism that explains several features observed in palaeomagnetic records of the Earth’s magnetic field, in numerical simulations and in a recent dynamo experiment. A similar model can also be used to understand reversals of large-scale flows that often develop on a turbulent background.


2003 ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen Zierep

We discuss the solution of the small perturbation equations for a horizontal fluid layer heated from below with an applied magnetic field either in vertical or in horizontal direction. The magnetic field stabilizes, due to the Lorentz force, more or less Rayleigh-B?nard convective cellular motion. The solution of the eigenvalue problem shows that the critical Rayleigh number increases with increasing Hartmann number while the corresponding wave length decreases. Interesting analogies to solar granulation and black spots phenomena are obvious. The influence of a horizontal field is stronger than that of a vertical field. It is easy to understand this by discussing the influence of the Lorentz force on the Rayleigh-B?nard convection. This result corrects earlier calculations in the literature.


Author(s):  
P-J Cheng

This article considers the stability of a thin electrically conducting fluid film flowing down the outer surface of a long vertical cylinder in the presence of an applied magnetic field. Using the long-wave perturbation method to solve the generalized non-linear kinematic equations with free film interface, the normal mode approach is first used to compute the linear stability solution. The method of multiple scales is then used to obtain the weak non-linear dynamics. The results indicate that both subcritical instability and supercritical stability conditions are possible. The degree of instability in the film flow is intensified by the lateral curvature of the cylinder. The results also show that increasing the strength of the magnetic field tends to enhance the stability.


2002 ◽  
Vol 453 ◽  
pp. 345-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
ULRICH BURR ◽  
ULRICH MÜLLER

This article presents an analytical and experimental study of magnetohydrodynamic Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a large aspect ratio, 20[ratio ]10[ratio ]1, rectangular box. The test fluid is a eutectic sodium potassium Na22K78 alloy with a small Prandtl number of Pr≈0:02. The experimental setup covers Rayleigh numbers in the range 103< Ra<8×104 and Chandrasekhar numbers 0[les ]Q[les ]1.44×106 or Hartmann numbers 0[les ]M[les ]1200, respectively.When a horizontal magnetic field is imposed on a heated liquid metal layer, the electromagnetic forces give rise to a transition of the three-dimensional convective roll pattern into a quasi-two-dimensional flow pattern in such a way that convective rolls become more and more aligned with the magnetic field. A linear stability analysis based on two-dimensional model equations shows that the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection of quasi-two-dimensional flow is shifted to significantly higher values due to Hartmann braking at walls perpendicular to the magnetic field. This finding is experimentally confirmed by measured Nusselt numbers. Moreover, the experiments show that the convective heat transport at supercritical conditions is clearly diminished. Adjacent to the onset of convection there is a significant region of stationary convection with significant convective heat transfer before the flow proceeds to time-dependent convection. However, in spite of the Joule dissipation effect there is a certain range of magnetic field intensities where an enhanced heat transfer is observed. Estimates of the local isotropy properties of the flow by a four-element temperature probe demonstrate that the increase in convective heat transport is accompanied by the formation of strong non-isotropic time-dependent flow in the form of large-scale convective rolls aligned with the magnetic field which exhibit a simpler temporal structure compared to ordinary hydrodynamic flow and which are very effective for the convective heat transport.


1995 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anju Pusri ◽  
S. K. Malik

The propagation of wave packets on the surface of an electrically conducting fluid of uniform depth in the presence of a tangential magnetic field is investigated in (2 + 1) dimensions. The evolution of wave envelope is governed by two coupled partial differential equations with cubic nonlinearity. The stability analysis reveals the existence of different regions of instability. The effect of the applied magnetic field is not only significant but also different for different regions of stability. ‘Envelope soliton’ and ‘waveguide’ solutions of the amplitude equation are also discussed. The self-focusing phenomenon that arises when the amplitude of the wave becomes infinite in finite time is also examined. It is found that in a certain region of the stability diagram it may be easier to observe this phenomenon in the presence of a magnetic field. The Rayleigh-Taylor problem is also studied and various criteria for the existence of instability are obtained.


1973 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-544 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. H. Busse

The nonlinear hydromagnetic dynamo problem is investigated for the case of convection in a layer of an electrically conducting fluid heated from below. It is shown that two-dimensional convection rolls in conjunction with a longitudinal mean flow are capable of amplifying a magnetic field in the form of a wave propagating in the longitudinal direction. The action of the Lorentz forces causes a reduction of the amplitude of convection with the consequence that the energy of the magnetic field cannot grow beyond an equilibrium value which is determined as a function of the parameters of the problem. The analysis is based on an expansion in powers of the longitudinal wavenumber β of the magnetic field and applies in the case of large values of the magnetic Prandtl number.


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