On the onset of thermal convection in rotating nanofluid layer saturating a Darcy–Brinkman porous medium

In this paper, the effect of rotation on the onset of thermal convection in a horizontal layer of nanofluid saturated by a Darcy–Brinkman porous medium is considered. A linear stability analysis based upon normal mode is used to find solution of the fluid layer confined between two free boundaries. The onset criterion for stationary and oscillatory convection is derived analytically and graphically. The effects of the concentration Rayleigh number, Taylor number, Lewis number, Darcy number and modified diffusivity ratio on the stability of the system are investigated. The sufficient conditions for the non-existence of overstability are also derived.

► Thermal convection in rotating nanofluid layer in porous medium: Brinkman model is proposed. ► Lewis number, Taylor number and modified diffusivity ratio stabilize the stationary convection. ► Porosity and concentration Rayleigh number destabilize the stationary convection. ► The Darcy number has both the stabilizing/destabilizing effects on the stationary convection. ► The sufficient conditions for the non-existence of overstability are obtained.