Rayleigh-Benard stability and the validity of quasi-Boussinesq or quasi-anelastic liquid approximations

Abstract: The linear stability threshold of the Rayleigh-Benard configuration is analyzed with compressible effects taken into account. It is assumed that the fluid obeys a Newtonian rheology and Fourier's law of thermal transport with constant, uniform (dynamic) viscosity and thermal conductivity in a uniform gravity field. Top and bottom boundaries are maintained at different constant temperatures and we consider here boundary conditions of zero tangential stress and impermeable walls. Under these conditions, and with the Boussinesq approximation, Rayleigh (1916) first obtained analytically the critical value 27pi^4/4 for a dimensionless parameter, now known as the Rayleigh number, at the onset of convection. This manuscript describes the changes of the critical Rayleigh number due to the compressibility of the fluid, measured by the dimensionless dissipation parameter D and due to a finite temperature difference between the hot and cold boundaries, measured by a dimensionless temperature gradient a. Different equations of state are examined: ideal gas equation, Murnaghan's model and a generic equation of state, which can represent any possible equation of state. We also consider two variations of this stability analysis. In a so-called quasi-Boussinesq model, we consider that density perturbations are solely due to temperature perturbations. In a so-called quasi-anelastic liquid approximation, we consider that entropy perturbations are solely due to temperature perturbations. In addition to the numerical Chebyshev-based stability analysis, an analytical approximation is obtained when temperature fluctuations are written as a combination of only two modes. This analytical expression allows us to show that the superadiabatic critical Rayleigh number quadratic departure in a and D from 27pi^4/4 involves the expansion of density up to the degree three in terms of pressure and temperature.