Thermally unstable throughflow of a power–law fluid in a vertical porous cylinder with arbitrary cross–section

Abstract The present paper investigates how the cross–sectional shape of a vertical porous cylinder affects the onset of thermoconvective instability of the Rayleigh–Benard type. The fluid saturating the porous medium is assumed to be a non–Newtonian power–law fluid. A linear stability analysis of the vertical thorughflow is carried out. Three special shapes of the cylinder cross–section are analysed: square, circular and elliptical. The effect of changing the power–law index is investigated. The stability of a steady base state with vertical throughflow is analysed. The resulting stability problem is a differential eigenvalue problem that is solved numerically through the shooting method. …