Moderate Stefan Number Convection in Rotating Mushy Layers: A New Darcy Equation Formulation

Abstract

The coriolis effect on a solidifying mushy layer is considered. A near-eutectic approximation and large far-field temperature is employed in the current study for moderate Stefan numbers. The linear stability theory is used to investigate analytically the Coriolis effect on convection in a rotating mushy layer for a new formulation of the Darcy equation. It was found that only stationary convection is possible for moderate Stefan numbers. In contrast to the problem of a stationary mushy layer, rotating the mushy layer has a stabilizing effect on convection. It was also discovered that fot Taylor numbers larger than three (i.e., Ta > 3),increasing the retardability coefficient (hence increasing the solid fraction) destablished the convection.