Electronic edition ISSN 1574-0579

Gravitational convection in a ferromagnetic liquid

B. M. Berkovskii - V. G. Bashtovoi

Abstract
Gravitational convection in an incompressible nonconducting ferromagnetic fluid resulting from the magnetocaloric effect is discussed. With a vertical gradient of the magnetic field that is constant in time, the problem is equivalent to the problem of natural convection with a vertical temperature gradient. A new dimensionless parameter plays the role of the Rayleigh number. The conditions for the establishment and structure of steady-state convection in vertical and horizontal channels are determined. Numerical estiInltes of the critical magnetic field gradients are obtained. The possibility of producing steady-state convection and the phenomenon of thermoconvective eruption with a magnetic field having a constant time rate of change is demonstrated.