Temporal stability of superposed magnetic fluids in porous media

Abstract

The present work deals with the stability properties of time periodically streaming superposed magnetic fluids through porous media under the influence of an oblique alternating magnetic field. The system is composed of a middle fluid sheet of finite thickness embedded between two other bounded layers. The fluids are assumed to be incompressible and there are no volume charges in the layers of the fluids. Such configurations are of relevance in a variety of astrophysical and space configurations. The solutions of the linearized equations of motion and boundary conditions lead to deriving two more general simultaneous Mathieu equations of damping terms with complex coefficients. The method of multiple time scales is used to obtain approximate solutions and analyze the stability criteria for both the non-resonant and resonant cases and hence transition curves are obtained for such cases. The stability criteria are examined theoretically and numerically from which stability diagrams are obtained. It is found that the fluid sheet thickness plays a destabilizing role in the presence of a constant field and velocity, while the damping role is observed for the resonant cases. Dual roles are observed for the fluid velocity and the porosity in the stability criteria.