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This paper addresses the stability of mixed convective buoyancy assisted flow due to external pressure gradient and buoyancy force in a vertical fluid saturated porous channel with linearly varying wall temperature. The porous medium is assumed to be both hydrodynamically and thermally anisotropic. Two different types of temperature perturbations, ͑i͒ zero temperature and ͑ii͒ zero heat flux, have been considered to study the effect of anisotropic permeability and thermal diffusivity on the flow stability. The stability analysis indicated that the least stable mode is two-dimensional. Furthermore, the results show that for the same Reynolds number, the fully developed base flow is highly unstable ͑stable͒ for high ͑low͒ permeable porous media as well as for a porous medium with small ͑large͒ thermal diffusivity ratio. Depending on the magnitude of all parameters studied, three types of instabilities ͑shear, thermal, and mixed instability͒ occurred. The transition of instability from one type to another took place smoothly, except when the permeability ratio exceeded 6. Based on the value of the permeability ratio, the flow in an anisotropic medium for a specific Reynolds number may be either more or less stable than the flow in an isotropic medium. In addition, the fully developed flow is more stable for relatively small values of the modified Darcy number than for larger values. The effect of Brinkman as well as Forchheimer terms are negligible for the set of other parameters studied here. In contrast to a pure viscous fluid or an isotropic porous medium, which are characterized by unicellular convective cells, in anisotropic porous media convective cells may be unicellular or bicellular. The stability analysis of mixed convection in channels filled either with a viscous fluid or with an isotropic saturated porous medium may be obtained as special cases of the general study presented here.

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Buoyancy opposed mixed convection is considered in a vertical channel filled with an isotropic, porous medium, in which the motion of an incompressible fluid is induced by external pressure gradients and buoyancy forces. The Brinkman-Wooding-extended Darcy model has been used to study the instability mechanisms of the basic flow and its dependence on the Prandtl number (Pr) of the fluid. The stability analysis indicated that for the same Reynolds number (Re), the fully developed base flow was highly unstable for a fluid with high Pr. For a porous medium with a Darcy number (Da) of 10−6 and Pr⩾0.7, two different types of instability, Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) and buoyant instability, are observed. The R-T instability mode is observed for relatively small values of Re. Further, the results show that for Da=10−5 and Pr<1, the spectrum of the energy profile is abrupt and sudden, whereas the same is smooth when Da=10−6. In the case of R-T instability, the critical value of Ra at low Re is given by −2.47∕Da. Though the R-T mode of instability is independent of Pr, the range of Re that sustains the R-T mode is a function of Pr. It has been found that enhancement of Pr reduces the Re range mentioned above. In contrast to the case of a purely viscous fluid, where the effect of Pr is not significant, in isotropic porous media Pr plays a significant role in characterizing the flow stability. The instability characteristics of zero temperature flux perturbation (BC-I) and zero heat flux perturbation (BC-II) on the boundaries differ significantly in the case of the R-T stability mode. However, both conditions lead to similar results for buoyant stability, except at small values of Re.

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