The Raleigh-Benard instability is encountered in horizontal fluid
layers that are heated by the bottom.
It has been studied for quite a long time, since the result of this
instability is a convection that is visually impressive. Some convection
rolls are created due to the circulation of the fluid in the layer.
This movement is basically due to the buoyancy created by the difference
of density (resulting from a difference of temperature) between the fluid
particles.
The criteria that influence the particle are of two type:
- The destabilizing force that will create movement. It is called the buoyancy or Archimede force.
- The stabilizing process, that is of two type, the viscous stress and the thermal diffusion. If the particle is able to exchange all the heat that it receive, the intern energy will not change and the density will stay the same. In the other case, a buoyancy will result.
It is resumed in the following schema, with FA the buoyancy,
FT the viscous stress.
The gravity is vertical and oriented to the bottom.
