Onset of Absolute Instability Induced by Viscous Dissipation in the Poiseuille-Darcy-Benard Convection of a Newtonian Fluid

The present paper investigates the transition from convective to absolute instability induced by viscous dissipation. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first time such a study is reported in the literature. Its framework is provided by the Poiseuille-Darcy-Benard convection of a Newtonian fluid. We found the same behaviour observed in the absence of viscous dissipation whenever the Gebhart number is smaller than Ge < 0.95, which is the stabilising effect of the cross flow. When 0.95 < Ge < 4.31, weak cross flows still stabilise the onset of absolute instability but stronger cross flows destabilise it. For a stronger viscous dissipation, i.e. Ge > 4.31, the cross flow always destabilises this onset. The latter two conditions create a scenario where viscous dissipation is capable of inducing a transition to absolute instability in the absence of wall heating, i.e. with a zero Rayleigh number.