Particle thermal inertia delays the onset of convection in particulate Rayleigh–Bénard system

We investigate the linear stability of a thermally stratified fluid layer confined between horizontal walls and subject to continuous injection of dilute thermal particles at one boundary and extraction at the opposite, forming a particulate Rayleigh-Bénard (pRB) system. The analysis focuses on the influence of thermal coupling between the dispersed and carrier phases, quantified by the specific heat capacity ratio ϵ . Increasing ϵ systematically enhances stability, with this effect persisting across a wide range of conditions, including heavy and light particles, variations in volumetric flux, injection velocity and direction, and injection temperature. The stabilizing influence saturates when the volumetric heat capacity of the particles approaches that of the fluid, ϵ = O ( 1 ) . The physical mechanism is attributed to a modification of the base-state temperature profile caused by interphase heat exchange, which reduces thermal gradients near the injection wall and weakens buoyancy-driven motion. • Introduce a model system that effectively disentangles the roles of thermal and mechanical two-way particle–fluid coupling. • Linear stability analysis shows that particle thermal inertia stabilizes the onset of Rayleigh–Bénard convection. • Increasing thermal inertia raises the critical Rayleigh number and reduces the aspect ratio of the convection rolls. • The particle-to-fluid density ratio plays an important role, with heavy particles providing stronger stabilization than light ones. • Particle flux and injection velocity can further modulate the stabilization effect.