Finite Amplitude Convection in a Rotating Porous Medium

1987 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-20
Author(s):  
B. S. Dandapat

The onset of convection in a horizontal layer of a saturated porous medium heated from below and rotating about a vertical axis with uniform angular velocity is investigated. It is shown that when S ∈ σ >1, overstability cannot occur, where ε is the porosity, σ the Prandtl number and S is related to the heat capacities of the solid and the interstitial fluid. It is also shown that for small values of the rotation parameter T1, finite amplitude motion with subcritical values of Rayleigh number R (i.e. R < Re, where Re is the critical Rayleigh number according to linear stability theory) is possible. For large values of T1, overstability is the preferred mode.

1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kaviany

The onset of convection due to a nonlinear and time-dependent temperature stratification in a saturated porous medium with upper and lower free surfaces is considered. The initial parabolic temperature distribution is due to uniform internal heating. The medium is then cooled by decreasing the upper surface temperature linearly with time. Linear stability theory is applied to the more formally developed governing equations. In order to obtain an asymptotic solution for transient problems involving very long time scales, the critical Rayleigh number for steady-state, nonlinear temperature distribution is also obtained. The effects of porosity, permeability, and Prandtl number on the time of the onset of convection are examined. The steady-state results show that the critical Rayleigh number depends only on the ratio of porosity to permeability and when this ratio exceeds a value of one thousand, the critical Rayleigh number is directly proportional to this ratio.


1968 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Veronis

A stabilizing gradient of solute inhibits the onset of convection in a fluid which is subjected to an adverse temperature gradient. Furthermore, the onset of instability may occur as an oscillatory motion because of the stabilizing effect of the solute. These results are obtained from linear stability theory which is reviewed briefly in the following paper before finite-amplitude results for two-dimensional flows are considered. It is found that a finite-amplitude instability may occur first for fluids with a Prandtl number somewhat smaller than unity. When the Prandtl number is equal to unity or greater, instability first sets in as an oscillatory motion which subsequently becomes unstable to disturbances which lead to steady, convecting cellular motions with larger heat flux. A solute Rayleigh number, Rs, is defined with the stabilizing solute gradient replacing the destabilizing temperature gradient in the thermal Rayleigh number. When Rs is large compared with the critical Rayleigh number of ordinary Bénard convection, the value of the Rayleigh number at which instability to finite-amplitude steady modes can set in approaches the value of Rs. Hence, asymptotically this type of instability is established when the fluid is marginally stratified. Also, as Rs → ∞ an effective diffusion coefficient, Kρ, is defined as the ratio of the vertical density flux to the density gradient evaluated at the boundary and it is found that κρ = √(κκs) where κ, κs are the diffusion coefficients for temperature and solute respectively. A study is made of the oscillatory behaviour of the fluid when the oscillations have finite amplitudes; the periods of the oscillations are found to increase with amplitude. The horizontally averaged density gradients change sign with height in the oscillating flows. Stably stratified fluid exists near the boundaries and unstably stratified fluid occupies the mid-regions for most of the oscillatory cycle. Thus the step-like behaviour of the density field which has been observed experimentally for time-dependent flows is encountered here numerically.


The fluid motion in a two-dimensional box heated from below is considered. The horizontal surfaces are taken to be free and isothermal while the sidewalls are first taken to be rigid and perfect insulators. Linear stability theory shows that the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection is higher than that when no side walls are present and the eigenvalue spectrum is discrete. Finite amplitude theory shows that the onset of convection is sudden, that is, bifurcation occurs. The effect of allowing the sidewalls to be slightly imperfect insulators is also investigated. It is found that if the boundary conditions of the sidewalls depart only slightly from those given above, there is a significant change in the response of the fluid. In the most general circumstances a resonance of the free mode is excited as the Rayleigh number approaches its critical value and finite amplitude effects become important. Then it is shown that the onset of convection is quite smooth and the concept of a sharp bifurcation at a critical Rayleigh number is no longer tenable. For a particular class of imperfections it is shown that a ‘transcritical’ bifurcation as described by Benjamin (1976) is possible. The limiting case of a very long box is given special consideration.


2008 ◽  
Vol 130 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Kohl ◽  
M. Kristoffersen ◽  
F. A. Kulacki

Experiments are reported on initial instability, turbulence, and overall heat transfer in a porous medium heated from below. The porous medium comprises either water or a water-glycerin solution and randomly stacked glass spheres in an insulated cylinder of height:diameter ratio of 1.9. Heating is with a constant flux lower surface and a constant temperature upper surface, and the stability criterion is determined for a step heat input. The critical Rayleigh number for the onset of convection is obtained in terms of a length scale normalized to the thermal penetration depth as Rac=83/(1.08η−0.08η2) for 0.02<η<0.18. Steady convection in terms of the Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers is Nu=0.047Ra0.91Pr0.11(μ/μ0)0.72 for 100<Ra<5000. Time-averaged temperatures suggest the existence of a unicellular axisymmetric flow dominated by upflow over the central region of the heated surface. When turbulence is present, the magnitude and frequency of temperature fluctuations increase weakly with increasing Rayleigh number. Analysis of temperature fluctuations in the fluid provides an estimate of the speed of the upward moving thermals, which decreases with distance from the heated surface.


1975 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 689-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Graham

A procedure for obtaining numerical solutions to the equations describing thermal convection in a compressible fluid is outlined. The method is applied to the case of a perfect gas with constant viscosity and thermal conductivity. The fluid is considered to be confined in a rectangular region by fixed slippery boundaries and motions are restricted to two dimensions. The upper and lower boundaries are maintained at fixed temperatures and the side boundaries are thermally insulating. The resulting convection problem can be characterized by six dimension-less parameters. The onset of convection has been studied both by obtaining solutions to the nonlinear equations in the neighbourhood of the critical Rayleigh number Rc and by solving the linear stability problem. Solutions have been obtained for values of the Rayleigh number up to 100Rc and for pressure variations of a factor of 300 within the fluid. In some cases the fluid velocity is comparable to the local sound speed. The Nusselt number increases with decreasing Prandtl number for moderate values of the depth parameter. Steady finite amplitude solutions have been found in all the cases considered. As the horizontal dimension A of the rectangle is increased, the length of time needed to reach a steady state also increases. For large values of A the solution consists of a number of rolls. Even for small values of A, no solutions have been found where one roll is vertically above another.


Author(s):  
Saneshan Govender

In both pure fluids and porous media, the density gradient becomes unstable and fluid motion (convection) occurs when the critical Rayleigh number is exceeded. The classical stability analysis no longer applies if the Rayleigh number is time dependant, as found in systems where the density gradient is subjected to vibration. The influence of vibrations on thermal convection depends on the orientation of the time dependant acceleration with respect to the thermal stratification. The problem of a vibrating porous cylinder has numerous important engineering applications, the most important one being in the field of binary alloy solidification. In particular we may extend the above results to understanding the dynamics in the mushy layer (essentially a reactive porous medium) that is sandwiched between the underlying solid and overlying melt regions. Alloyed components are widely used in demanding and critical applications, such as turbine blades, and a consistent internal structure is paramount to the performance and integrity of the component. Alloys are susceptible to the formation of vertical channels which are a direct result of the presence convection, so any technique that suppresses convection/the formation of channels would be welcomed by the plant metallurgical engineer. In the current study, the linear stability theory is used to investigate analytically the effects of gravity modulation on convection in a homogeneous cylindrical porous layer heated from below. The linear stability results show that increasing the frequency of vibration stabilizes the convection. In addition the aspect ratio of the porous cylinder is shown to influence the stability of convection for all frequencies analysed. It was also observed that only synchronous solutions are possible in cylindrical porous layers, with no transition to sub harmonic solutions as was the case in Govender (2005a) for rectangular layers or cavities. The results of the current analysis will be used in the formulation of a model for binary alloy systems that includes the reactive porous medium model.


1989 ◽  
Vol 206 ◽  
pp. 497-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Or

Convection of two-dimensional rolls in an infinite horizontal layer of fluid-saturated porous medium heated from below is studied numerically. Several important finite-amplitude states are isolated, and their bifurcation properties are shown. Effects of the temperature-dependent viscosity are included. The stability of these states is investigated with respect to the class of disturbances that have a ½π phase shift relative to the basic state. In particular, the oscillatory mechanism and the mean-flow generating mechanism through the variable viscosity are discussed.


2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Nield ◽  
A. V. Kuznetsov

The onset of convection in a horizontal layer of a cellular porous material heated from below is investigated. The problem is formulated as a combined conductive-convective-radiative problem in which radiative heat transfer is treated as a diffusion process. The problem is relevant to cellular foams formed from plastics, ceramics, and metals. It is shown that the variation of conductivity with temperature above that of the cold boundary leads to an increase in the critical Rayleigh number (based on the conductivity of the fluid at that boundary temperature) and an increase in the critical wave number. On the other hand, the critical Rayleigh number based on the conductivity at the mean temperature decreases with increase in the thermal variation parameter if the radiative contribution to the effective conductivity is sufficiently large compared with the nonradiative component.


2008 ◽  
Vol 63 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beer S. Bhadauria ◽  
Aalam Sherani

The onset of double diffusive convection in a sparsely packed porous medium was studied under modulated temperature at the boundaries, and a linear stability analysis has been made. The primary temperature field between the walls of the porous layer consisted of a steady part and a timedependent periodic part and the Galerkin method and the Floquet were used. The critical Rayleigh number was found to be a function of frequency and amplitude of modulation, Prandtl number, porous parameter, diffusivity ratio and solute Rayleigh number.


The local nonlinear stability of thermal convection in fluid-saturated porous media, subjected to an adverse temperature gradient, is investigated. The critical Rayleigh number at the onset of convection and the corresponding heat transfer are determined. An approximate analytical method is presented to determine the form and amplitude of convection. To facilitate the determination of the physically preferred cell pattern, a detailed study of both two- and three-dimensional motions is made and a very good agreement with available experimental data is found. The finite-amplitude effects on the horizontal wavenumber, and the effect of the Prandtl number on the motion are discussed in detail. We find that, when the Rayleigh number is just greater than the critical value, two dimensional motion is more likely than three-dimensional motion, and the heat transport is shown to have two regions for n =1. In particular, it is shown that optimum heat transport occurs for a mixed horizontal plan form formed by the linear combination of general rectangular and square cells. Since an infinite number of steady-state finite-amplitude solutions exist for Rayleigh numbers greater than the critical number A c * , a relative stability criterion is discussed th at selects the realized solution as that having the maximum mean-square temperature gradient.


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