Eur. Phys. J. E (2017) 40: 18
https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2017-11502-0

Regular Article

Convection of a colloidal suspension in a Hele-Shaw cell

¹ Department of Physics of Phase Transitions, Perm State University, 15 Bukirev str., 614990, Perm, Russia
² Department of Radio Electronics and Information Security, Perm State University, 15 Bukirev str., 614990, Perm, Russia
³ Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics, 1 Academician Korolyov str., 614013, Perm, Russia

^* e-mail: bsmorodin@yandex.ru

Received: 30 September 2016
Accepted: 11 January 2017
Published online: 20 February 2017

Abstract

The results of a theoretical study are presented dealing with convective heat and mass transfer in a colloidal suspension through a Hele-Shaw cell heated from below. The numerical analysis, based on a multi-component model, reveals that for a certain range of parameter values the dynamical regimes of travelling waves as well as oscillatory fingering formation are stable. The bifurcation phenomena and nonlinear evolution of spatiotemporal patterns that develop in the colloid suspension are modeled and discussed, paying special attention to the combined effects of gravity sedimentation, thermal diffusion with positive separation ratio and convection.