Surface tension driven convection in viscoelastic liquids with thermorheological effect

Oscillatory onset of convection is studied numerically for Rivlin-Ericksen, Maxwell and Jeffreys liquids by considering free-free and rigid-free isothermal/adiabatic boundaries. The effect of variable viscosity parameter is shown to destabilize the system. The problem reveals the stabilizing nature of strain retardation parameter and the destabilizing nature of stress relaxation parameter, on the onset of convection. The Maxwell liquids are found to be more unstable than the one subscribing to the Jeffreys description whereas the Rivlin-Ericksen liquids are comparatively more stable. Rigid-free adiabatic boundary combination is found to give rise to a most stable system, whereas the free isothermal free adiabatic combination gives rise to a most unstable system. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.