The stability of steady convective motion in a vertical slender slot with non-uniform volumetric energy sources and unequal surface temperatures

Abstract

The problem of stability of a liquid layer contained between two vertical plates at different prescribed temperatures and subjected to an external radiation source penetrating its body is solved. Results for the effects of radiation and the boundary temperature difference are presented in graphical form in terms of two different critical Grashof numbers as functions of the Prandtl number, the optical thickness of the fluid and the wall reflectivities. A physical justification for the behavior of instability under wide range of each parameter is given. Conclusively, the effects of radiation parameters on the stability of liquids are found to be contrary with that reported on radiating gases under the same isothermal case.