Stability of natural convective motion in pure water near 4°C contained in a slot with a moving sidewall

The stability of plane parallel convective motion in pure water close to its temperature of maximum density is studied. A layer of ice at its melting temperature is assumed to be contained in an inclined slot with a movable sidewall. The convective motion is induced by uniformly distributed heat sources in the layer. The stability boundary depends on the angle of inclination and velocity of the sidewall. In general lower and moderate positive values of Re and moderate and higher negative values of Re stabilize convection. The competition between the thermal-buoyant, interactive and shear modes of instability is prominent when −7⩽Re⩽10.