The effects of gravity modulation on the stability of a heated fluid layer

The stability of a horizontal layer of fluid heated from above or below is examined for the case of a time-dependent buoyancy force which is generated by shaking the fluid layer, thus causing a sinusoidal modulation of the gravitational field. A linearized stability analysis is performed to show that gravity modulation can significantly affect the stability limits of the system. In this analysis, much emphasis is placed on qualitative results obtained by an approximate solution, which permits a rather complete stability analysis. A useful mechanical analogy is developed by considering the effects of gravity modulation on a simple pendulum. Finally, some effects of finite amplitude flows are considered and discussed.