Preferred pattern of convection in a porous layer with a spatially non-uniform boundary temperature

Abstract

The problem of finite-amplitude thermal convection in a porous layer between two horizontal walls with different mean temperatures is considered when spatially non-uniform temperature with amplitude L* is prescribed at the lower wall. The nonlinear problem of three-dimensional convection for values of the Rayleigh number close to the classical critical value is solved by using a perturbation technique. Two cases are considered: the wavelength γ(b)n of the nth mode of the modulation is equal to or not equal to the critical wavelength γc for the onset of classical convection. The preferred mode of convection is determined by a stability analysis in which arbitrary infinitesimal disturbances are superimposed on the steady solutions. The most surprising results for the case γ(b)n = γc for all n are that regular or non-regular solutions in the form of multi-modal pattern convection can become preferred in some range of L*, provided the wave vectors of such pattern are contained in the set of wave vectors representing the spatially non-uniform boundary temperature. There can be critical value(s) L*c of L* below which the preferred flow pattern is different from the one for L* > L*c. The most surprising result for the case γ(b)n ≠ γc and γ(b)n ≡ γ(b) for all n is that some three-dimensional solution in the form of multi-modal convection can be preferred, even if the boundary modulation is one-dimensional, provided that the wavelength of the modulation is not too small. Here γ(b) is a constant independent of n.