Influence of Rotation and Viscosity on Parallel Rolls of Electrically Conducting Fluid

Abstract

Rayleigh–Bénard convection is a fundamental fluid dynamics phenomenon that significantly influences heat transfer in various natural and industrial processes, such as geophysical dynamics in the Earth’s liquid core and the performance of heat exchangers. Understanding the behavior of conductive fluids under the influence of heating, rotation, and magnetic fields is critical for improving thermal management systems. Utilizing the Boussinesq approximation, this study theoretically examines the nonlinear convection of a planar layer of conductive liquid that is heated from below and subjected to rotation about a vertical axis in the presence of a magnetic field. We focus on the onset of stationary convection as the temperature difference applied across the planar layer increases. Our theoretical approach investigates the formation of parallel rolls aligned with the magnetic field under free–free boundary conditions. To analyze the system of nonlinear equations, we expand the dependent variables in a series of orthogonal functions and express the coefficients of these functions as power series in a parameter ϵ. A solution for this nonlinear problem is derived through Fourier analysis of perturbations, extending to O(ϵ8), which allows for a detailed visualization of the parallel rolls. Graphical results are presented to explore the dependence of the Nusselt number on the Rayleigh number (R) and Ekman number (E). We observe that both the local Nusselt number and average Nusselt number increase as the Ekman number decreases. Furthermore, the flow appears to become more deformed as E decreases, suggesting an increased influence of external factors such as rotation. This deformation may enhance mixing within the fluid, thereby improving heat transfer between different regions.