Non-linear convection in a porous medium with internal heat sources

Abstract

The paper studies non-linear thermal convection in a horizontal porous layer of fluid with nearly insulating boundaries and in the presence of internal heat sources. Square and hexagonal cells are found to be the only possible stable convection cells. Finite amplitude instability could exist for some particular forms of an internal heat source Q. For a uniform Q, the preferred flow pattern is that of hexagons for amplitude ε smaller than some critical value ε c , while both squares and hexagonal cells are stable for ε ⩾ ε c . The convective motion is downward at the hexagonal cell's centers. For a non-uniform Q, the qualitative features of thermal convection depend on the actual form Q. In particular, a non-uniform Q can increase or decrease the cell's size and the critical Rayleigh number at the onset of convection, and stabilize or destabilize the convective motion in the form of hexagonal cells with either upward or downward motion at the cell's centers.