On the Stability and Evolution Criterion of Electrothermohydrodynamic System

Abstract

The Glansdorff-Prigogine method in thermodynamics of nonequilibrium open systems is reformulated when the systems have a freedom of convective motion, and the z-function used by them is found to be the entropy of the system. The method is then extended so as to include effects of applied electric and magnetic fields. The result is applied to investigate the onset of the Felici instability in electrohydrodynamic systems, which is shown to have a strong resemblance with the well-known Bénard instability in thermohydrodynamic systems.