Orientation changes of the large-scale circulation in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection
Abstract
We present measurements of the orientation theta_0(t) of the large-scale circulation (LSC) of turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection in cylindrical cells of aspect ratio 1. theta_0(t) undergoes irregular reorientations. It contains reorientation events by rotation through angles Delta theta with a monotonically decreasing probability distribution p(Delta theta), and by cessations (where the LSC stops temporarily) with a uniform p(Delta theta). Reorientations have Poissonian statistics in time. The amplitude of the LSC and the magnitude of the azimuthal rotation rate have a negative correlation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.physics/0503162,
title = {Orientation changes of the large-scale circulation in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection},
author = {Eric Brown and Alexei Nikoleanko and Guenter Ahlers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0503162},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 5 figures. Under consideration for publication in Physical Review Letters. Some new content has been added, and some content has been removed to make space