Power-Law Behavior of Power Spectra in Low Prandtl Number Rayleigh-Benard Convection

Journal Article · Mon Oct 08 00:00:00 EDT 2001 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.154501· OSTI ID:40277696

Paul, M R; Cross, M C; Fischer, P F; Greenside, H S

The origin of the power-law decay measured in the power spectra of low Prandtl number Rayleigh-Benard convection near the onset of chaos is addressed using long time numerical simulations of the three-dimensional Boussinesq equations in cylindrical domains. The power law is found to arise from quasidiscontinuous changes in the slope of the time series of the heat transport associated with the nucleation of dislocation pairs and roll pinch-off events. For larger frequencies, the power spectra decay exponentially as expected for time continuous deterministic dynamics.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: (US)
• DOE Contract Number: FT02-98ER14892; W-31-109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 40277696
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 87, Issue 15; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.154501; Othernumber: PRLTAO000087000015154501000001; 066141PRL; PBD: 8 Oct 2001; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: The American Physical Society
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
CONVECTION
DECAY
DISLOCATIONS
NUCLEATION
ORIGIN
PRANDTL NUMBER
SPECTRA
TRANSPORT