On the vibrational convective instability of a horizontal, binary-mixture layer with Soret effect

A theoretical examination is made of the mechanical quasi-equilibrium stability of a horizontal, binary-mixture layer with Soret effect in the presence of a high-frequency vibrational field. The boundaries of the layer are assumed to be rigid, isothermal and impermeable. The axis of vibration is longitudinal. The study is based on the system of equations describing the behaviour of mean fields. The conditions of quasi-equilibrium are formulated. A linear stability analysis for normal modes is carried out. In the limit of long-wave disturbances the regular perturbation method is used with the wavenumber as a small parameter. For the case of an arbitrary wavenumber, the calculations are made using straight forward numerical integration. The boundaries of stability and the critical disturbance characteristics are determined for representative parameter values. Different instability mechanism and forms are discussed.