Combined Effects of Unsteady Electric Field and Uniform Magnetic Field on Magnetoelectroconvection in a Poorly Conducting Plasma.

The magnetoelectroconvective instability of a plane horizontal layer of a poorly conducting plasma subjected to a strong nonuniform electric field and uniform magnetic field is investigated in the combined magnetoelectrohydrodynamic approximations when charge formation is produced by this convection. The spatio-temporal variation of electric field, density of charge distribution and temperature are found for the quiescent basic state. The influence of combined uniform magnetic field and a time-dependent electric field modulation on the behaviour of a poorly conducting plasma is studied using energy and moment methods along with Galerkin technique. The criterion for the onset of magnetoelectroconvection involving the effects of both strong electric and magnetic fields is computed and the results are compared with these obtained only in the presence of electric field. We found that the combined effect of electric and magnetic fields is more favourable to suppress convection significantly than in the presence of electric field alone. This result is useful in synthesizing smart and strong materials needed for many aeronautical, automobile and biomedical engineering applications to minimize the weight and maximize the strength to achieve the sufficient dynamic advantages. © 2006 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]