Experimental and numerical investigation of wave ferrofluid convection

The stability of buoyancy-driven shear flow in an inclined layer of a ferrocolloid is investigated for different values of inclinations and homogeneous longitudinal magnetic fields. Near the onset of Rayleigh convection of ferrofluid layer inclined with respect to gravity, the wave oscillatory regimes were observed in experiments and numerical simulations. Visualization of convection patterns is provided by a temperature-sensitive liquid crystal film. As experiments testify, the origin of traveling wave regimes in ferrofluid is due to concentration gradients caused by gravity sedimentation of the magnetic particles. To study the effects of initial concentration gradient of particles, on convective instabilities, finite volume numerical simulations using a two-phase mixture model were carried out for the same setup. The most fascinating effect in ferrofluid convection is spontaneous formation of localized states, those where the convection chaotically focuses in confined regions and is absent in the remainder of cavity.