Instability through porous medium of two viscous superposed conducting fluids

摘要

The stability of the plane interface separating two viscous superposed conducting fluids through porous medium is studied when the whole system is immersed in a uniform horizontal magnetic field. The stability analysis is carried out for two highly viscous fluids of equal kinematic viscosities, for mathematical simplicity. It is found that the stability criterion is independent of the effects of viscosity and porosity of the medium and is dependent on the orientation and magnitude of the magnetic field. The magnetic field is found to stabilize acertain wave number range of the unstable configuration. The behaviour of growth rates with respect to viscosity, porosity and medium permeability are examined analytically.