Boris Weyssow

Gravity level influence on a laterally heated ferrofluid submitted to an oblique strong magnetic field

Summary A horizontal ferrofluid layer is submitted to a lateral heating and to a strong oblique magnetic field. For a thin enough layer, the steady state solution is the product of the classical solution corresponding to the usual Newtonian fluid submitted to a lateral gradient of temperature, times a modulating factor. This last accounts for the inclination and for the ratio Ram/Ra, where Ra is the Rayleigh number due to buoyancy and Ram the magnetic Rayleigh number due to the Kelvin magnetic forces. Physically, fundamental modifications of the temperature and velocity profile intervene when Ram/Ra >> 1, since, as function of the inclination of the magnetic field, the direction of motion in the infinitely elongated cells can become inverted.