Thermal Instability in Rivlin-Ericksen Elastico-Viscous Fluids in Hydromagnetics

Abstract

Abstract The thermal instability of a layer of Rivlin-Ericksen elastico-viscous fluid acted on by a uniform vertical magnetic field is considered. For stationary convection, a Rivlin-Ericksen elastico-viscous fluid behaves like a Newtonian fluid. The magnetic field has a stabilizing effect. It is found that the presence of a magnetic field introduces oscillatory modes which were non-existent in its absence. The sufficient condition for the non-existence of overstability is also obtained.