Darcy-Bénard convection

Darcy-Bénard convection is thermal convection in a porous layer heated from below, with velocity governed by Darcy's law. With fixed temperatures and impermeable boundaries, a normalized two-dimensional model uses streamfunction $\psi$ and temperature $\theta$:The control parameter is a porous-medium Rayleigh number. On $0<z<1$ with temperature values $0,-1$, the conductive state is $\psi =0$, $\theta =-z$.

In a unit square with prescribed conductive boundary temperatures and impermeable boundaries, the stream function convention $\mathbf{u}=(-{\psi }_z,0,{\psi }_x)$ gives linear equations $\Delta \psi =R{\theta }_x$, ${\theta }_t={\psi }_x+\Delta \theta$, with $\psi =\theta =0$ on all sides. The velocity equation follows by taking the vertical-plane curl of Darcy law, and the temperature equation by linearizing the heat equation about $1-z$. Unlike a laterally unbounded Darcy layer, the conducting side boundaries produce a two-dimensional real marginal eigenspace at $R_c=8{\pi }^2$.

For $q=q_c+ϵq_1$, ${\theta }_t=ϵ\lambda \theta$, the first-order equations are $\Delta {\psi }_1-q_c^2{\theta }_{1x}=2q_c{q}_1{\theta }_{0x}$ and ${\psi }_{1x}+\Delta {\theta }_1=\lambda {\theta }_0$. Multiply them by ${\psi }_0,q_c^2{\theta }_0$ and integrate. Integration by parts and the leading equations cancel the homogeneous correction terms, giving $2q_c{q}_1⟨{\psi }_0{\theta }_{0x}⟩+q_c^2\lambda ⟨{\theta }_0^2⟩=0$. Since $⟨{\psi }_0{\theta }_{0x}⟩=-⟨|\nabla {\theta }_0{|}^2⟩$, the displayed title formula follows. The reciprocal norm ratio is incompatible with this solvability condition. Reflection parity diagonalizes the first-order splitting of the two marginal modes.

At zero growth rate put $P=\psi +iq\theta$, $q=\sqrt{R}$. The coupled Darcy equations become $\Delta P+iq{P}_x=0$. Substituting $P=e^{-iq(x-1/2)/2}F$ gives $\Delta F+(q^2/4)F=0$ with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. The square Dirichlet Laplacian eigenvalues give $q^2=4{\pi }^2(m^2+n^2)$, $m,n\ge 1$, whose minimum is $8{\pi }^2$. For $S=\sin \pi x\sin \pi z$, $a=q_c/2$, the complex multiples $F=S,iS$ give real pairs $(S\cos (a\xi ),-S\sin (a\xi )/q_c)$ and $(S\sin (a\xi ),S\cos (a\xi )/q_c)$, $\xi =x-1/2$. Their reflection parities are opposite, yielding two independent physical modes.

With permeability $K$, depth $d$, kinematic viscosity $\nu$ and the relevant effective thermal diffusivity ${\kappa }_T$, the Darcy Rayleigh number compares buoyancy-driven Darcy advection to thermal diffusion. It differs from the clear-fluid Rayleigh number by replacing $d^3$ with $Kd$. Effective heat capacity and porosity factors may be absorbed into the definition of ${\kappa }_T$ and the thermal-time scale, and must be kept consistent with the chosen Darcy law convention.

A perturbation proportional to $\sin (n\pi z)e^{st+ikx}$ has growth rateMinimizing the neutral curve $(k^2+n^2{\pi }^2{)}^2/k^2$ gives $n=1$, $k=\pi$ and $R_c=4{\pi }^2$. Thus the first convection rolls have horizontal wavelength twice the layer depth.

For $R=4{\pi }^2+{ϵ}^2$, fixed roll phase, $T={ϵ}^{2}t$ and normalization $\psi =ϵA(T)\cos (\pi x)\sin (\pi z)+\cdots$, the Landau amplitude equation isThe mean-temperature correction in weakly nonlinear Darcy convection supplies the cubic negative feedback. Projection of the third-order equations onto the critical eigenfunction via the Fredholm solvability condition for a self-adjoint operator fixes both coefficients. The stable nonzero amplitudes are $\pm 2/\pi$ within the chosen phase, giving a supercritical pitchfork bifurcation in this real-amplitude reduction.

For ${\psi }_1=\cos (\pi x)\sin (\pi z)$, the first temperature mode is ${\theta }_1=(2\pi {)}^{-1}\sin (\pi x)\sin (\pi z)$. The streamfunction advection bracket is $J({\psi }_1,{\theta }_1)=(\pi /4)\sin (2\pi z)$, independent of $x$. The second-order equations therefore have ${\psi }_2=0$ andThis modifies the vertical temperature gradient. Its interaction with the critical roll produces the cubic term in the amplitude equation.