Three-Dimensional Convective Planforms for Inclined Darcy-Bénard Convection

Abstract

We investigate the onset of convection in an inclined Darcy-Bénard layer. When such a layer is unbounded in the spanwise direction it is generally known that longitudinal rolls comprise the most unstable planform. On the other hand, when a layer has a sufficiently small spanwise width, then transverse rolls form the most unstable planform. However, the layer remains stable to transverse roll disturbances when the inclination is above roughly 31 degrees from the horizontal. This paper considers the transition between these two extreme cases where the spanwise width takes moderate values and where rectangular cells are considered. It is found that the most unstable planform is quite strongly sensitive to the magnitude of the spanwise width and that there are large regions of parameter space within which three-dimensional convection patterns have the smallest critical Darcy-Rayleigh number.