Convective instability analysis of micropolar fluid-saturated horizontal porous layer

Abstract

This article investigates the convective instability of a micropolar fluid-saturated horizontal porous layer. An inclined temperature gradient along with the horizontal throughflow is considered during this investigation. The primary aim of this article is to explore the nature of the micropolar fluid parameters on the transverse and longitudinal rolls in the presence of horizontal throughflow. The following parameters, such as coupling number, micropolar parameter, Darcy number, porosity of the medium, horizontal Rayleigh number, and Péclet number, mainly control the flow. The base flow is a combination of horizontally moving mass flow and flow induced by an inclined temperature gradient. This particular flow configuration is known as the Hedley-Prats flow. The eigenvalue problems related to the transverse and longitudinal rolls are numerically solved using the bvp4c routine in MATLAB. A comparison of the numerical results for the Darcy number on the Hadley–Prats flow in the Brinkman model with those of the current problem reveals a high degree of concurrence. It is observed that the direction of the horizontal throughflow does not significantly affect the stability region of micropolar fluids under an inclined temperature gradient. Furthermore, the presence of micropolar fluid parameters (such as \(N_\text {1}\) and m) always stabilizes the flow characteristics.