Convection with Protruding Baffles

Abstract

In this book we are paying particular attention to effects which may raise or lower the critical Rayleigh number in a thermal convection problem, as opposed to the classical case of a clear fluid, or a clear fluid saturating a porous medium. In this chapter we consider thermal convection in a Darcy porous medium in a rectangular box but when the box has either a vertical partition (also called a vertical baffle), or a horizontal partition. The results described are very interesting since they show that the addition of a partition may strongly inhibit convective fluid motion, the critical Rayleigh number is substantially increased, and this is of much interest for thermal insulation. It could be of much use in microfluidic convection devices to suggest what sort of baffle to add, where to position the baffle, and what size it should be.