Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 219, 33-43 (2013)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2013-01778-2

Regular Article

Influence of density stratification on stability of a two-layer binary-fluid system with a diffuse interface

¹ Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics SB RAS, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
² Novosibirsk State University, 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia
³ Department of Mathematics, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, 32000 Haifa, Israel

^a e-mail: oksana@hydro.nsc.ru
^b e-mail: nepom@techunix.technion.ac.il

Received: 1 July 2012
Revised: 18 January 2013
Published online: 19 March 2013

Abstract

A system of two layers separated by a diffuse interface which is created due to a phase separation in a binary liquid in the gravity field, is considered. The influence of the density stratification and the gravity on the stabilization of the solution is studied. The stability of two-layer base solutions with respect to long-wave disturbances in the framework of the linear stability analysis is investigated in the case of small density ratio and large Galileo number. It is found that the action of gravity can stabilize the equilibrium state.