Pollution overturning instability in an incompressible fluid with a Maxwell-Cattaneo-Mariano model for the pollutant field

Abstract

We develop a model for a pollutant dissolved in or dispersed in an incompressible Navier–Stokes fluid when the diffusion theory for the pollutant obeys a second order in time system of equations rather than the first order in time system obtained from Fourier’s law. A detailed analysis is performed for a layer of fluid where a pollutant is such that the top of the layer will be heavier in concentration. A detailed expression for the critical pollutant Rayleigh number is found indicating precise conditions under which a convective overturning motion will arise. The investigation is performed by a linear instability analysis, but additionally we provide a completely nonlinear energy stability analysis. Diffusion of flux is also added to a Cattaneo-like equation and this leads to surprising results.