Nonlinear analysis on the natural convection between vertical plates in the presence of a horizontal magnetic field (Q1285909)

The author studies the hydromagnetic nonlinear stability of an electrically conducting fluid between two vertical parallel planes, heated differentially in the presence of a horizontal magnetic field. Finite amplitude secondary motions are obtained numerically, in the limit of small Prandtl and magnetic Prandtl numbers, appropriate for liquid metals used in MHD power generators, and for the liquid core of the Earth and magnetic stars. It is shown that the secondary flow bifurcates supercritically for small Hartmann numbers \(H\), provided that the wavenumbers are moderately large. As \(H\) increases, the stability region of the secondary flow becomes smaller with the Grashof number approaching a critical value from above, and vanishes completely around \(H=7\).