The effect of an oblique magnetic field on the surface instability of a finite conducting fluid layer

Summary The effect of an oblique magnetic field on the growth rate of Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RT) at the interface of a finite thickness layer of a viscous electrically conducting fluid in the presence of surface tension has been studied analytically. The effects of aligned and transverse magnetic fields on the coupled differential equations for the velocity and the magnetic field are discussed separately. The numerical results reveal that the nature and strength of the magnetic field and the layer thickness exacerbate or ameliorate the instability characteristic of such a layer.