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Oscillatory and collective instabilities in large Prandtl number convection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

F. H. Busse  and
J. A. Whitehead
F. H. Busse
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles
J. A. Whitehead
Affiliation:
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles Present address: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
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Abstract

An experimental study of transitions from steady bimodal convection to time-dependent forms of convection is described. Using controlled initial conditions for the onset of bimodal convection two mechanisms of instability can be separated from the effects of random noise. The oscillatory instability of bimodal cells introduces standing waves closely resembling those occurring in low Prandtl number convection. The collective instability introduces spoke-pattern convection which is characteristic for turbulent large Prandtl number convection. Both instabilities originate primarily from the momentum advection terms in the equations of motion, as is evident from the strong Prandtl number dependence of the critical Rayleigh number Rt for the onset of oscillations. The results are discussed in relation to previous experiments and recent theoretical work.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , 21 October 1974 , pp. 67 - 79
Copyright
© 1974 Cambridge University Press

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