English

Henri B\'enard: Thermal convection and vortex shedding

History and Philosophy of Physics 2017-12-20 v1 Fluid Dynamics

Abstract

We present in this article the work of Henri B\'enard (1874-1939), French physicist who began the systematic experimental study of two hydrodynamic systems: the thermal convection of fluids heated from below (the Rayleigh-B\'enard convection and the B\'enard-Marangoni convection) and the periodical vortex shedding behind a bluff body in a flow (the B\'enard-K\'arm\'an vortex street). Across his scientific biography, we review the interplay between experiments and theory in these two major subjects of fluid mechanics.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.1712.07039,
  title  = {Henri B\'enard: Thermal convection and vortex shedding},
  author = {J. E. Wesfreid},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.07039},
  year   = {2017}
}

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41 pages