Electrohydrodynamic instability of a rotating layer of a viscoelastic fluid heated from below

Abstract

The stability of a rotating layer of viscoelastic dielectric liquid (Walters’ liquid B’) heated from below is considered. Linear stability theory is used to derive an eigenvalue system of ten orders and exact eigenvalue equation for a neutral instability is obtained. Under somewhat artificial boundary conditions, this equation can be solved exactly to yield the required eigenvalue relationship from which various critical values are determined in detail. Critical Rayleigh heat numbers and wavenumber for the onset of instability are presented graphically as function of the Taylor number for various values of electric Rayleigh number and the elastic parameters.