Linear instability of concentric annular flow: Effect of Prandtl number and gap between cylinders

•Linear stability analysis of stably stratified annular Poiseuille flow is carried out for a wide range of curvature parameter and the Prandtl number.•Instability of the pipe flow with a thin rod placed at the center even for a very small value of heat source intensity has been found.•Three types of instability have been observed through kinetic energy analysis.•For a large value of curvature parameter, the least stable azimuthal number may vary as large as 40. The stability of non-isothermal Poiseuille flow in a coaxial annular domain is studied using normal mode analysis. The stably stratified flow (i.e., when buoyant force is in the direction of forced flow) is induced due to external pressure gradient and maintenance of linear variation of the temperature of the inner cylinder. We have emphasized the impact of the gap between cylinders in terms of curvature parameter (C) and Prandtl number (Pr) on the instability of the flow under axisymmetric as well as non-axisymmetric disturbances. In general, it has been found that the flow of low Pr fluids under axisymmetric disturbance is more stable in comparison with the flow under non-axisymmetric disturbance. When the gap between cylinders is relatively small (i.e. C is large), the flow under non-axisymmetric is most stable for the fluids having high Pr. It is known that the Newtonian pipe flow is linearly stable for all values of Reynolds number (Re). However, in the present study, we have seen the instability of the pipe flow with a thin rod placed at the center even for a very small value of heat source intensity (in terms of Rayleigh number) at Re=2000. Here the disturbance velocity is concentrated in the vicinity of the inner wall and instability is due to transfer of kinetic energy from the basic flow through Reynold’s stress. Depending on the value of controlling parameters, three types of instability: thermal-shear, interactive, thermal-buoyant have been observed. In general, for a fixed value of Pr, the type of instability is not affected by C and Re. The non-isothermal Poiseuille flow of low Pr (including mercury and gases) is governed by thermal-shear instability and the same of high Pr (including liquid and oil) is governed by thermal-buoyant instability.