Stability of exothermic autocatalytic fronts with regard to buoyancy-driven instabilities in presence of heat losses

Across traveling autocatalytic fronts, density differences due to composition and temperature changes can lead to buoyancy-driven hydrodynamic instabilities deforming the front by convective motions. We study here the influence of heat losses through the walls of the reactor on the stability of such exothermic fronts in the gravity field. The stability domain is computed numerically in a parameter space spanned by the solutal Rc and thermal RT Rayleigh numbers of the problem for various values of the Newton's coefficient α quantifying the intensity of heat losses.

► Autocatalytic fronts can be destabilized by density gradients across them.
► Heat losses through walls influence hydrodynamic instability of exothermic fronts.
► Classification of the influence of heat losses on stability of autocatalytic fronts.