Convection in multi-component rotating fluid layers via the auxiliary system method

Abstract

The onset of thermal convection in a uniformly rotating horizontal layer filled by a Navier–Stokes multi-component fluid mixture, heated from below and salted partly from above and partly from below, is investigated via the new approach named auxiliary system method Rionero (Rend Lincei Mat Appl 25:1–44, 2014). In the free–free case, via the generalization of the Rionero Linearization Principle: “Decay of linear energy for any initial data implies decay of nonlinear energy at any instant” [given in Rionero (Rend Lincei Mat Appl 25:1–44, 2014) in the absence of rotation], it is shown that conditions guaranteeing linear stability of thermal conduction solution guarantee also absence of subcritical instabilities and global exponential asymptotic nonlinear stability. The classical Benard problem is investigated via a procedure different from the celebrated one given in Chandrasekhar (Hydrodynamic and hydromagnetic stability, 1981).