Apparatus for the study of Rayleigh{endash}B{acute e}nard convection in gases under pressure
- Department of Physics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John`s, Newfoundland A1B 3X7 (Canada)
- Department of Physics and Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Erindale College, University of Toronto, 60 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A7 (Canada)
- Department of Physics and Center for Nonlinear Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-9530 (United States)
We review the history of experimental work on Rayleigh{endash}B{acute e}nard convection in gases, and then describe a modern apparatus that has been used in our experiments on gas convection. This system allows for the study of patterns in a cell with an aspect ratio (cell radius/fluid layer depth) as large as 100, with the cell thickness uniform to a fraction of a {mu}m, and with the pressure controlled at the level of one part in 10{sup 5}. This level of control can yield a stability of the critical temperature difference for the convective onset of better than one part in 10{sup 4}. The convection patterns are visualized and the temperature field can be inferred using the shadowgraph technique. We describe the flow visualization and image processing necessary for this. Some interesting results obtained with the system are briefly summarized. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 284612
- Journal Information:
- Review of Scientific Instruments, Journal Name: Review of Scientific Instruments Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 67; ISSN 0034-6748; ISSN RSINAK
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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