Linear stability of natural convection in superposed fluid and porous layers: influence of the interfacial modelling (Q878797)

This study deals with the onset of thermal natural convection in a system consisting of a fluid layer overlying a homogeneous porous medium. A linear stability analysis is carried out, using the so-called two-domain approach and including the Brinkman term in the porous region (\(2\Omega_{DB}\)). Results are systematically compared to those obtained using the one-domain approach (\(1\Omega\)) and the classical Darcy formulation of the two-domain approach (\(2\Omega_{D}\)). A better agreement is found between the \(2\Omega_{DB}\) and \(2\Omega_{D}\) neutral curves, than with the \(1\Omega\) curves, indicating that the inclusion of the Brinkman term plays a secondary role on the stability results. The different treatment of the interfacial region is discussed on the basis of these results.