The Onset and Nonlinear Regimes of Convection in a Two-Layer System of Fluid and Porous Medium Saturated by the Fluid

Abstract

The onset of convection and its nonlinear regimes in a heated from below two-layer system consisting of a horizontal pure fluid layer and porous medium saturated by the same fluid is studied under the conditions of static gravitational field. The problem is solved numerically by the finite-difference method. The competition between the long-wave and short-wave convective modes at various ratios of the porous layer to the fluid layer thicknesses is analyzed. The data on the nature of convective motion excitation and flow structure transformation are obtained for the range of the Rayleigh numbers up to quintuple supercriticality. It has been found that in the case of a thick porous layer the steady-state convective regime occurring after the establishment of the mechanical equilibrium becomes unstable and gives way to the oscillatory regime at some value of the Rayleigh number. As the Rayleigh number grows further the oscillatory regime of convection is again replaced by the steady-state convective regime.