Instabilities of longitudinal convection rolls in an inclined layer

Abstract

The stability of longitudinal rolls in an inclined convection layer is investigated for various angles of inclination. Three types of instability are responsible for the transition from longitudinal rolls to three-dimensional forms of convection in different regimes of the parameter space. The role of the wavy instability is emphasized since it does not correspond to a transition in the case of a horizontal layer. The analysis emphasizes the cases of air and water as convective media. Comparison of the theoretical results with experimental data indicates that the stability analysis based on infinitesimal disturbances correctly describes the observed instabilities.