Adiabatic eigenflows in a vertical porous channel

The existence of an infinite class of buoyant flows in a vertical porous channel with adiabatic and impermeable boundary walls, called adiabatic eigenflows, is discussed. A uniform heat source within the saturated medium is assumed, so that a stationary state is possible with a net vertical through-flow convecting away the excess heat. The simple isothermal flow with uniform velocity profile is a special adiabatic eigenflow if the power supplied by the heat source is zero. The linear stability analysis of the adiabatic eigenflows is carried out analytically. It is shown that these basic flows are unstable. The only exception, when the power supplied by the heat source is zero, is the uniform isothermal flow, which is stable. The existence of adiabatic eigenflows and their stability analysis is extended to the case of spanwise lateral confinement, viz. in the case of a vertical rectangular channel. A generalisation of this study to a vertical channel with an arbitrary cross-sectional shape is also presented.