| Abstract: | An accurate computational analysis is presented for the onset of thermal convection in a two‐layer system which is comprised of a saturated layer of porous material described by Darcy's law, over which lies a layer of the same saturating fluid. The two‐layer system is heated from below and the upper (fluid) surface is allowed to be fixed or stress free. The onset of convection may have a bi‐modal nature in which convection may be dominated by the porous medium or by the fluid depending on the depths of the relative layers, but this is strongly controlled by material parameters. The effect of variation of relevant fluid and porous material properties is investigated in detail, as is the effect of the interface boundary condition between the fluid and the porous medium. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
