Spiral-defect chaos in rayleigh-bénard convection with small prandtl numbers

Jun Liu, Guenter Ahlers, Frank Wilczek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

52 Scopus citations

Abstract

Rayleigh-Bénard convection is investigated for Prandtl numbers Ï 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 [Formula presented] is the Rayleigh number and [Formula presented] its critical value) as Ï decreases. The measurements suggest that large-scale mean flows, which are expected to be stronger at smaller Ï, play an important role in the spontaneous generation of SDC.SDC can occur and fully develop in the regime dominated by the Soret effect.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3126-3129
Number of pages4
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume77
Issue number15
DOIs
StatePublished - 1996
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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