Rayleigh Taylor Instability of Two Rotating Maxwellian Superposed Fluid with Variable Magnetic Field in Porous Medium

 

Chander Bhan Mehta, Susheel Kumar

Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics, Centre of Excellence, Sanjauli Shimla (H.P)-171006, India, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, St. Bede’s College, Shimla (H.P)171002, India. E-mail:-

*Corresponding Author: chanderbmehta@gmail.com, susheel04gupt@yahoo.com

   

ABSTRACT:

The instability of the plane interface between two viscoelastic (Maxwellian) superposed fluids in porous medium in the presence of uniform rotation and variable magnetic field is considered. The magnetic field, the viscosity and the density are assumed to be exponentially varying. For stable density stratification, the system is found to be stable for disturbances of all wave numbers. The magnetic field stabilizes the potentially unstable stratification for small wave-length perturbations which are otherwise unstable. The long wave-length perturbations remain unstable and are not stabilized by magnetic field. Rotation does not affect the stability or instability, as such, of stratification.

 

KEYWORDS:  Rayleigh-Taylor instability, Maxwellian viscoelastic fluids, variable   magnetic field, uniform rotation, porous medium.

 


 

INTRODUCTION:

A detailed account of the instability of the plane interface between two Newtonian fluids under varying assumptions of hydrodynamics and hydromagnetics, has been given by Chandrasekhar [4]. Bhatia [1] has considered the Rayleigh–Taylor instability of two viscous superposed conducting fluids in the presence of a uniform horizontal magnetic field. Bhatia and Steiner [3] have studied the problem of thermal instability of a Maxwellian viscoelastic fluid in the presence of rotation and have found that the rotation has a destabilizing effect in contrast to the stabilizing effect on Newtonian fluid.

 

The problem in porous medium is of importance in soil, ground water hydrology and in atmosphere. When the fluid slowly percolates through the pores of a macroscopically homogeneous and isotropic porous medium, the gross effect is represented by Darcy’s law according to which the usual viscous term in the equations of fluid motion is replaced by the resistance term - , where  is the viscosity of the fluid,  the permeability of the medium and  the filter velocity of the fluid.

 

Vest and Arpaci [10] have studied the stability of a horizontal layer of Maxwell’s viscoelastic fluid heated from below. Sharma [9] has studied the instability of the plane interface between two Oldroydian viscoelastic superposed conducting fluids in the presence of a uniform magnetic field. Generally, the magnetic field has a stabilizing effect on the stability, but there are a few exceptions. For example, Kent [6] has studied the effect of a horizontal magnetic field that varies in the vertical direction on the stability of parallel flows and has shown that the system is unstable under certain conditions, while in the absence of magnetic field the system is known to be unstable. Lapwood [7] has studied the stability of convective flow in hydromagnetics in a porous medium using Rayleigh’s procedure. Bhatia and Mathur [2] have studied the Rayleigh–Taylor instability of two superposed Oldroydian fluids in a uniform vertical magnetic field through porous medium. The magnetic field stabilizes the unstable configuration for wave number band k>k* in which system is unstable in the absence of magnetic field. It is also found that the viscosity, viscoelasticity and medium porosity have stabilizing influence while elasticity and medium permeability have destabilizing influence.

 

Since viscoelastic fluids play an important role in polymers and in the electro–chemical industry, the studies of waves and stability in different viscoelastic fluids dynamical configuration has been carried out by several researchers in the recent past. Jukes [5] investigated the Rayleigh–Taylor instability problem in MHD with finite conductivity and found that finite conductivity introduces new and unexpected modes. Sengupta and Basak [8] have studied the instability of the plane interface separating two superposed viscoelastic (Maxwell) conducting fluids in a uniform vertical magnetic field. Numerically it is found that both viscosity and viscoelasticity of fluid have stabilizing influence while permeability of porous medium has mostly destabilizing effect on the growth rate of unstable mode of disturbance.

 

Keeping in mind the importance of non–Newtonian fluids in modern technology and industries and owing to the importance of variable magnetic field, rotation and porous medium in chemical engineering and geophysics, the present paper attempts to study the +instability of the plane interface separating two incompressible superposed rotating Maxwellian viscoelastic fluids in porous medium in presence of a variable magnetic field.

 

REFERENCE:

1.     Bhatia, P.K., Rayleigh-Taylor Instability of Two Viscous Superposed Conducting   Fluids, Nuovo Cimento, 19B (1974), 161 .

2.     Bhatia, P.K and Mathur, R. P., Instability of Viscoelastic Superposed Fluids in a Vertical Magnetic Field Through Porous Medium, Ganita Sandesh, 17(2) (2003), 21.

3.     Bhatia, P.K. and Steiner, J.M., Thermal Instability of a Viscoelastic Fluid Layer in Hydromagnetics, J. Math. Anal. Appl., 41 (1973), 271.

4.     Chandrasekhar, S., Hydrodynamic and Hydromagnetic Stability, Dover publication, New York, 1981.

5.     Jukes, I.D., On The Rayleigh-Taylor Problem in Magnetohydrodynamics with Finite   Resistivity, J. Fluid Mech., 16 (1963), 177.

6.     Kent, A., Instability of Laminar Flow of a Magneto Fluid, Phys. Fluid, 9 (1966), 1286.

7.     Lapwood, E.R., Convection of a Fluid in a Porous Medium, Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc., 44   (1948), 508.

8.     Sengupta, P.R and Basak, P., Stability of Two Superposed Viscoelastic (Maxwell) Fluids in a Vertical Magnetic Field, Indian J. Pure Appl. Math., 35(7)   (2004), 905.

9.     Sharma, R.C., Instability of the Plane Interface Between Two Viscoelastic SuperposedConducting Fluids, J.Math.Phys.Sci.,12 (1978), 603.

10.   Vest, C.M. and Arpaci, V.S., Overstability of a Viscoelastic Fluid Layer Heated from         Below, J. Fluid Mech., 36 (1969), 613.

 

 

Received on 20.01.2013                                   Accepted on 10.02.2013

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Research J. Science and Tech 5(1): Jan.-Mar.2013 page 65-71