A theoretical analysis of the onset of

transient convection in a fluid saturated

porous medium heated impulsively from
below

February 27, 2020

Abstract
The onset of transient convection in a fluid saturated porous medium
heated impulsively from below is investigated theoretically. Initially qui-
escent, isotropic fluid saturated porous layer is considered. Darcy’s law
is employed to examine characteristics of fluid motion under the Boussi-
nesq approximation. Using linear theory, we derive stability equations
and transform them in the similarity domain. Based on linear stability
equations in the similarity domain , stability analysis is conducted by em-
ploying the propagation theory, which considers variations of disturbances
with the time upon their onset.

1 Introduction
The system considered here is an initially quiescent, fluid-saturated, horizontal
porous layer of depth d, as shown in fig. The porous layer has a constant porosity
ε and a constant permeability K. The interstitial fluid is characterized by the
thermal expansion coefficient β , density ρ , heat capacity (ρc)f and kinematic
viscosity ν. The porous medium is regarded as a homogeneous and isotropic
material with heat capacity

(ρc)e = ε(ρc)f + (1 − ε)(ρc)m

and thermal conductivity

ke = εkf + (1 − ε)km

Here subscripts f and m stand for fluid and porous matrix, respectively. Before
heating, the fluid layer is maintained at a uniform temperature T . For time
t ≥ 0 the lower boundary is suddenly heated with a constant temperature
Tb . For this system the governing equations of flow and temperature fields are
expressed by employing the Boussinesq approximation and Darcy’s model.

1
 ∇.~u = 0 (1)

µ
~u = −∇P + ρ~g (2)
K

∂ (ρc)f
[ + ~u.∇]T = α∇2 T (3)
∂t (ρc)e

ρ = ρi [1 − β(T − Ti )] (4)

where ~u is the velocity vector, T the temperature, P the pressure, µ the viscos-
ke
ity, α(= (ρc) e
) the effective thermal diffusivity, ρi the reference density and g
the gravitational acceleration. Here the local thermal equilibrium between the
fluid and the porous matrix phase is assumed.

Substituting equation (4) in (2) we get

µ
~u = −∇P + ρi [1 − β(T − Ti )]g (5)
K
Applying the perturbations to the velocity component and temperature compo-
nent ~u = ~u + ~u1 and T = T + T1 where ~u1 and T1 are disturbances and we get
the equations governing perturbations as

∇.~u1 = 0 (6)

µ
~u1 = ρi βT1 g (7)
K

∂T1 (ρc)f (ρc)f

+ (~u1 .∇)T1 + (~u1 .∇)T = α∇2 T1 (8)
∂t (ρc)e (ρc)e
Now we convert the perturbed governing equations into dimensionless form.
The scales for the dimensionless variable are given as follows

αk ∗
u~1 = u (9)
d3

αv ∗
T1 = T (10)
gβd3

d2
t= τ (11)
α

2
 (X, Y, Z) = d(x, y, z) (12)

The dimensionless variable for basic state temperature is of the form

T = ∆T T0 ∗ (13)

The perturbed governing equation in dimensionless form are

∇.u∗ = 0 (14)

u∗ = −T ∗ (15)

∂T ∗
+ RaD (u∗ .∇)T0 ∗ = ∇2 T ∗ (16)
∂τ
where RaD is the Darcy-Rayleigh number defined by

gβK∆T d(ρc)f
RaD = (17)
αν(ρc)e

The Basic State Conduction Equation is represented in dimensionless form

by

∂θ0 ∂ 2 θ0
= (18)
∂τ ∂z 2
with the following initial and boundary conditions, θ0 = 0 at τ = 0,
θ0 = 1 at z = 0 and θ0 = 0 at z = 1
To solve the conduction equation we use the method of separation of vari-
ables. The solution consists of time-independent and a time dependent part.

Time-independent part

Since the temperature at time τ = 0 for all z is zero the unsteady conduc-
tion equation becomes into steady state conduction equation and we obtain the
second order ODE.
D 2 θ0
=0 (19)
Dz 2
Integrating we get

θ0 = cz + k (20)

applying boundary conditions

θ0 = 1 − z (21)

3
 Time-dependent part
By the method of separation of variables ,consider

W0 (z, τ ) = Z(z)T (τ ) (22)

substituting (18) in (22)

Z”(z) T 0 (τ )
= = −λ2 (23)
Z(z) T (τ )

where λ is a constant and the general solution is ..............

Stability Analysis
Under the linear stability theory, the disturbances caused by the onset of thermal
convection can be formulated in this section, in dimensionless form, in terms of
temperature component θ1 and the vertical velocity component w1 .