9 research outputs found
Competition between Spiral-Defect Chaos and Rolls in Rayleigh-Benard Convection
We present experimental results for pattern formation in Rayleigh-Benard
convection of a fluid with a Prandtl number, Pr~ 4. We find that the
spiral-defect-chaos (SDC) attractor which exists for Pr~1 has become unstable.
Gradually increasing the temperature difference from below to well above its
critical value no longer leads to SDC. A sudden jump of temperature difference
from below to above onset causes convection to grow from thermal fluctuations
and does yield SDC. However, the SDC is a transient; it coarsens and forms a
single cell-filling spiral which then drifts toward the cell wall and
disappears.Comment: 9 pages(RevTeX), 5 jpg figures, To appear as Rapid Communication in
PR