Spiral-Defect Chaos in Rayleigh-B{acute e}nard Convection with Small Prandtl Numbers

Journal Article · Tue Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1996 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.3126· OSTI ID:388352

Liu, J; Ahlers, G ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics and Center for Nonlinear Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106 (United States)

Rayleigh-B{acute e}nard convection is investigated for Prandtl numbers {sigma} from 0.3 to 1.0 by using various pure gases and binary gas mixtures. The onset of spiral-defect chaos (SDC) moves to smaller values of {epsilon}{equivalent_to}{ital R}/{ital R}{sub {ital c}}{minus}1 ({ital R} is the Rayleigh number and {ital R}{sub {ital c}} its critical value) as {sigma} decreases. The measurements suggest that large-scale mean flows, which are expected to be stronger at smaller {sigma}, play an important role in the spontaneous generation of SDC.SDC can occur and fully develop in the regime dominated by the Soret effect. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

• DOE Contract Number: FG03-87ER13738
• OSTI ID: 388352
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 77; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
CHAOTIC SYSTEMS
CONVECTION
DEFECTS
GASES
INSTABILITY
MIXTURES
NAVIER-STOKES EQUATIONS
PRANDTL NUMBER
RAYLEIGH NUMBER
RAYLEIGH WAVES
RAYLEIGH-BENARD INSTABILITY