Stabilization of the Rayleigh-B\'enard system by injection of thermal inertial particles and bubbles

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates how injecting inertial particles and bubbles into a fluid layer can significantly stabilize Rayleigh-Bénard convection, increasing the critical Rayleigh number and delaying the onset of thermal convection.

Contribution

It extends previous work by including added-mass effects, analyzing the full range of particle densities, and quantifying stabilization effects for different particle properties and boundary conditions.

Findings

Mechanical coupling stabilizes the system, raising the critical Rayleigh number.

Particle heat capacity ratio further enhances stabilization.

Stabilization factor can reach up to 60 for heavy particles and bubbles.

Abstract

The effects of a dispersed particulate phase on the onset of Rayleigh-B\'enard convection in a fluid layer is studied theoretically by means of a two-fluid Eulerian modelization. The particles are non-Brownian, spherical, with inertia and heat capacity, and they interact with the surrounding fluid mechanically and thermally. We study both the cases of particles denser and lighter than the fluid that are injected uniformly at the system's horizontal boundaries with their settling terminal velocity and prescribed temperatures. The performed linear stability analysis shows that the onset of thermal convection is stationary, i.e., the system undergoes a pitchfork bifurcation as in the classical single-phase RB problem. Remarkably, the mechanical coupling due to the particle motion always stabilizes the system, increasing the critical Rayleigh number ($Ra_c$) of the convective onset. Furthermore, the particle to fluid heat capacity ratio provides an additional stabilizing mechanism, that we explore in full by addressing both the asymptotic limits of negligible and overwhelming particle thermal inertia. The overall resulting stabilization effect on $Ra_c$ is significant: for a particulate volume fraction of 0.1% it reaches up to a factor 30 for the case of the lightest particle density (i.e. bubbles) and 60 for the heaviest one. The present work extends the analysis performed by Prakhar & Prosperetti (Phys. Rev. Fluids 6, 083901, 2021) where the thermo-mechanical stabilization effect has been first demonstrated for highly dense particles. Here, by including the effect of the added-mass force in the model system, we succeed in exploring the full range of particle densities. Finally, we critically discuss the role of the particle injection boundary conditions which are adopted in this study and how their modification may lead to different dynamics, that deserve to be studied in the future.