On the Effect of Non-Uniform Temperature Gradients on the Stability of Modified Thermal Convection Problem

The aim of the present paper is to study the effect of non-uniform basic temperature gradients on the onset of modified thermal convection in a layer of fluid heated from below for different combinations of rigid and dynamically free boundary conditions. It is shown that the principle of exchange of stabilities (PES) is valid when the temperature gradient is monotonically decreasing upward, which means that the instability sets in as stationary mode. The expressions for the Rayleigh numbers for each combination of rigid and dynamically free boundary conditions for the stationary case of instability are derived using Galerkin method. The effects of non-uniform temperature gradients and the modification factor which arises due to modified theory of Banerjee et al on the instability are studied from the values of the critical Rayleigh numbers calculated numerically for various temperature profiles and the coefficient of specific heat variation due to temperature variation for the given values of other parameters. It is observed from these values that the Cubic temperature profile is more stabilizing than the inverted parabolic temperature distribution profile. Further, it is also found that the critical Rayleigh numbers for thermally insulating boundaries are lower than those for the corresponding isothermal cases.