Nonlinear instability of superposed magnetic fluids in the presence of an oblique magnetic field (Q1891377)

The nonlinear evolution of interfacial waves separating two magnetic fluids subjected to an oblique magnetic field is studied in two dimensions, with the use of the method of multiple scales. It is shown that the evolution of the envelope is governed by two partial differential equations. These equations can be combined to yield two alternate Schrödinger equations with cubic nonlinearity; one of them is used to determine the cutoff wave number separating stable from unstable deformations, while the other is applied to analyze the stability of the system. The latter is discussed both analytically and numerically, and the stability diagrams are obtained. It is found in the linear theory that the oblique magnetic field has a stabilizing effect if \(0\leq \theta_1+ \theta_2< \pi/2\) or \(3\pi/2< \theta_1+ \theta_2\leq 2\pi\), and a destabilizing effect if \(\pi/2< \theta_1+ \theta_2< 3\pi/2\), where \(0\leq \theta_j\leq \pi\) \((j= 1,2)\) and \(\theta_j\) is the angle between the field and the horizontal axis. In the nonlinear theory, the stability analysis reveals that there exist different regions of stability and instability. It is shown that the oblique magnetic field plays a dual role in the stability criterion and the angles \(\theta_1\) and \(\theta_2\) play a distinctive role in this analysis besides the effect of the variation of the magnetic permeabilities.