English

Effect of oblique horizontal magnetic field on convection rolls

Fluid Dynamics 2025-03-18 v1 Chaotic Dynamics Pattern Formation and Solitons

Abstract

We investigate the effect of external horizontal magnetic field applied on the convection rolls obliquely (at an angle ϕ\phi with the xx-axis) in electrically conducting low Prandtl number fluids under the paradigm of the Rayleigh-B\'{e}nard convection by performing three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. The control parameters, namely, the Chandrasekhar number (Q\mathrm{Q}) and the reduced Rayleigh number rr (ratio of Rayleigh number to critical Rayleigh number), are varied in the ranges 0Q10000 \leq \mathrm{Q} \leq 1000 and 1r201 \leq r \leq 20 for the Prandtl numbers Pr=0.1\mathrm{Pr} = 0.1 and 0.20.2 by considering three horizontal aspect ratios (Γ\Gamma): 12\frac{1}{2}, 11 and 22. In the absence of the magnetic field, the convection starts in the form of steady rolls including the one parallel to the xx-axis. As the oblique horizontal magnetic field is switched on at an angle ϕ(0, 90]\phi \in (0^\circ, ~90^\circ] with the xx-axis, it is observed that the Lorentz force generated by the component of the magnetic field transverse to the axis of the convection rolls inhibits convection in the form of steady rolls. Thus, with the application of the magnetic field, the convection is suppressed and restarts for a higher Rayleigh number in the form of steady convection rolls. The rolls can either be oriented along the xx-axis (steady parallel rolls, SPR) or oriented at an angle 4545^\circ (steady oblique rolls, SOR+^+) with the xx-axis depending on the choices of the parameters. A rich bifurcation structure with standing and traveling patterns emerges at higher rr. The oscillatory instability of steady rolls scales as Qα \mathrm{Q}^\alpha with distinct exponents for weak and strong magnetic fields. Additionally, heat transfer decreases with increasing ϕ \phi for given Q \mathrm{Q} and Pr \mathrm{Pr} .

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.11799,
  title  = {Effect of oblique horizontal magnetic field on convection rolls},
  author = {Snehashish Sarkar and Sutapa Mandal and Pinaki Pal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.11799},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

Submitted to journal (29 pages, 16 figures)