STABILITY OF A MICROWAVE HEATED FLUID LAYER

When a time harmonic electromagnetic wave impinges on a slab a certain portion of the wave creates heat within the slab through dipolar and ohmic heating. The electrical and thermal properties of the material d ictate the dynamical nature of the heating process, as well as the ste ady-state temperature profile. The material considered here is a slab of fluid. We consider the case where the fluid is bounded by thin rigi d layers of transparent material. The steady-state heating profile gov erns the types of convective motions that can occur and also affects t he stability characteristics of temperature, pressure and velocity per turbations introduced in the slab. The main objective here is to exami ne such stability characteristics, initially in the linear regime. Bot h rigid-rigid and rigid-free configurations are considered.