Free convection in MHD with vertical and horizontal temperature gradients

The occurrence of oscillatory mode for magnetized fluid in the presence of vertical and horizontal temperature gradients has been studied. In both the cases (highly viscous and low-viscosity fluids) the occurrence of oscillatory solutions to the Bénard problem has been investigated as a function of Prandtl number, magnetic number, resistivity number and the ratio of applied temperature gradients. It is clear that the high Prandtl numbers completely change the character of instability and of the solutions as compared to those appropriate for low Prandtl-number fluids. It has also been shown that small horizontal temperature gradient readily generate oscillatory modes only for real frequencies. The critical Rayleigh number is higher than the critical Rayleigh number of non-magnetized fluid in both the cases-i.e., highly viscous fluid and one of moderate viscosity.