Showing papers on "Boussinesq approximation (buoyancy) published in 1981"

Accuracy of the Boussinesq approximation for an incompressible fluid

Abstract: The corrections of first order to the eigenvalues and critical Rayleigh numbers obtained in the Boussinesq approximation are determined for convection in a fluid with zero compressibility. The ratio of the equilibrium difference of the densities to a mean density of the fluid is taken as the small parameter. The corrections are found by the methods of perturbation theory for self-adjoint operators. It is shown that in the class of problems with symmetry with respect to a horizontal plane the first-order corrections vanish. The restrictions on the system needed if the Boussinesq approximation is to be meaningful in the problem of the occurrence of convective instability are established.