Double-diffusive and Soret-induced convection in a shallow horizontal porous layer

This paper reports an analytical and numerical study of the natural convection in a horizontal porous layer filled with a binary fluid. A uniform heat flux is applied to the horizontal walls while the vertical walls are impermeable and adiabatic. The solutal buoyancy forces are assumed to be induced either by the imposition of constant fluxes of mass on the horizontal walls (double-diffusive convection, a = 0) or by temperature gradients (Soret effects, a = 1). The governing parameters for the problem are the thermal Rayleigh number, R-T, the Lewis number, Le, the solutal Rayleigh number, R-S, the aspect ratio of the cavity, A, the normalized porosity of the porous medium, epsilon, and the constant a. The onset of convection In the layer is studied using a linear stability analysis. The thresholds for finite-amplitude, oscillatory and monotonic convection instabilities are determined in terms of the governing parameters. For convection in an infinite layer, an analytical solution of the steady form of the governing equations is obtained by assuming parallel flow in the core of the cavity. The critical Rayleigh numbers for the onset of supercritical, R-TC(sup), or subcritical, R-TC(sub), convection are predicted by the present theory. A linear stability analysis of the parallel flow pattern is conducted in order to predict the thresholds for Hopf bifurcation. Numerical solutions of the full governing equations are obtained for a wide range of the governing parameters. A good agreement is observed between the analytical prediction and the numerical simulations.