Abstract
The stability of a thin layer of viscoelastic fluid flowing through a porous medium down a non-uniformly heated inclined plane with a constant temperature gradient along the plane is considered. The film flow system is influenced by gravity, mean surface tension, thermocapillary forces, viscoelastic forces, porosity, and permeability of porous medium. We seek a solution of the stability problem in a series in small wave numbers, and the obtained results, when the plane is heated in the downstream direction, show that the Marangoni, Galileo, and Biot numbers, porosity, and permeability of the porous medium have dual roles in the stability of the flow system, while the viscoelastic parameter and angle of inclination have stabilizing effects, and the Prandtl number has a destabilizing effect. The effects of these physical parameters are also discussed in the case when the plane is cooled in the downstream direction, and we found that their effects are opposite to those of the previous case. copyright 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley Online Library ( wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/htj ). DOI 10.1002/htj.21105