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Nonlinear oscillatory convection in mushy layers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2006

PETER GUBA
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK Present address: Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, 842 48 Bratislava, Slovakia.
M. GRAE WORSTER
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK

Abstract

We study the problem of nonlinear development of oscillatory convective instability in a two-dimensional mushy layer during solidification of a binary mixture. We adopt the near-eutectic limit, making the problem analytically tractable using standard perturbation techniques. We consider also a distinguished limit of large Stefan number, which allows a destabilization of the system to an oscillatory mode of convection. We find that either travelling waves or standing waves can be supercritically stable, depending strongly on the sensitivity of permeability of the mushy layer to variations in the local solid fraction: mushy-layer systems with relatively weak sensitivity are more likely to select travelling waves rather than standing waves in the nonlinear regime. Furthermore, the decrease in permeability is found to promote the subcritical, and hence more unstable, primary oscillatory states. In addition to mapping out the location of different stable oscillatory patterns in the available parameter space, we give the detailed spatio-temporal structure of the corresponding thermal, flow and solid-fraction fields within the mushy layer, as well as the local bulk composition in the resulting eutectic solid.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

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