Rolls versus squares in thermal convection of fluids with temperature-dependent viscosity

1987 ◽  
Vol 178 ◽  
pp. 491-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. R. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Convection ◽  
Fluid Layer ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Temperature Dependent Viscosity ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
Expansion Procedure ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Dependent Viscosity

We consider finite-amplitude thermal convection, in a horizontal fluid layer. The viscosity of the fluid is dependent upon its temperature. Using a weakly nonlinear expansion procedure, we examine the stability of two-dimensional roll and three-dimensional square planforms, in order to determine which should be preferred in convection experiments. The analysis shows that the roll planform is preferred for low values of the ratio of the viscosities at the top and bottom boundaries, but the square planform is preferred for larger values of the ratio. At still larger values, subcritical convection is predicted. We also include the effects of boundaries having finite thermal conductivity, which enables favourable comparison to be made with experimental studies. A discrepancy between the present work and a previous study of this problem (Busse & Frick 1985) is discussed.

Square-pattern convection in fluids with strongly temperature-dependent viscosity

1985 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 451-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. H. Busse ◽  
H. Frick
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Fluid Layer ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Square Lattice ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Temperature Dependent Viscosity ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Dependent Viscosity ◽  
Theoretical Results

Three-dimensional numerical solutions are obtained describing convection with a square lattice in a layer heated from below with no-slip top and bottom boundaries. The limit of infinite Prandtl number and a linear dependence of the viscosity on temperature are assumed. The stability of the three-dimensional solutions with respect to disturbances fitting the square lattice is analysed. It is shown that convection in the form of two-dimensional rolls is stable for low variations of viscosity, while square-pattern convection becomes stable when the viscosity contrast between upper and lower parts of the fluid layer is sufficiently strong. The theoretical results are in qualitative agreement with experimental observations.

The effects of temperature-dependent viscosity on flow in a cooled channel with application to basaltic fissure eruptions

1995 ◽  
Vol 305 ◽  
pp. 239-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan J. Wylie ◽  
John R. Lister
Keyword(s):  
Pressure Drop ◽  
Flow Rate ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Theoretical Description ◽  
Steady Flows ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Temperature Dependent Viscosity ◽  
Dependent Viscosity ◽  
Averaged Model

A theoretical description is given of pressure-driven viscous flow of an initially hot fluid through a planar channel with cold walls. The viscosity of the fluid is assumed to be a function only of its temperature. If the viscosity variations caused by the cooling of the fluid are sufficiently large then the relationship between the pressure drop and the flow rate is non-monotonic and there can be more than one steady flow for a given pressure drop. The linear stability of steady flows to two-dimensional and three-dimensional disturbances is calculated. The region of instability to two-dimensional disturbances corresponds exactly to those flows in which an increase in flow rate leads to a decrease in pressure drop. At higher viscosity contrasts some flows are most unstable to three-dimensional (fingering) instabilities analogous, but not identical, to Saffman-Taylor fingering. A cross-channel-averaged model is derived and used to investigate the finite-amplitude evolution.

Numerical simulations of three-dimensional thermal convection in a fluid with strongly temperature-dependent viscosity

1991 ◽  
Vol 233 ◽  
pp. 299-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaki Ogawa ◽  
Gerald Schubert ◽  
Abdelfattah Zebib
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Convection ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Temperature Dependent Viscosity ◽  
Rectangular Pattern ◽  
Four Corners ◽  
Layer Mode ◽  
Constant Viscosity ◽  
Dependent Viscosity

Numerical calculations are presented for the steady three-dimensional structure of thermal convection of a fluid with strongly temperature-dependent viscosity in a bottom-heated rectangular box. Viscosity is assumed to depend on temperature T as exp (− ET), where E is a constant; viscosity variations across the box r (= exp (E)) as large as 105 are considered. A stagnant layer or lid of highly viscous fluid develops in the uppermost coldest part of the top cold thermal boundary layer when r > rc1, where r = rc1 ≡ 1.18 × 103Rt0.309 and Rt is the Rayleigh number based on the viscosity at the top boundary. Three-dimensional convection occurs in a rectangular pattern beneath this stagnant lid. The planform consists of hot upwelling plumes at or near the centre of a rectangle, sheets of cold sinking fluid on the four sides, and cold sinking plume concentrations immersed in the sheets. A stagnant lid does not develop, i.e. convection involves all of the fluid in the box when r < rc1. The whole-layer mode of convection occurs in a three-dimensional bimodal pattern when r > rc2 = 3.84 × 106Rt−1.35. The planform of the convection is rectangular with the coldest parts of the sinking fluid and the hottest part of the upwelling fluid occurring as plumes at the four corners and at the centre of the rectangle, respectively. Both hot uprising plumes and cold sinking plumes have sheet-like extensions, which become more well-developed as r increases. The whole-layer mode of convection occurs as two-dimensional rolls when r < min (rc1, rc2). The Nusselt number Nu depends on the viscosity at the top surface more strongly in the regime of whole-layer convection than in the regime of stagnant-lid convection. In the whole-layer convective regime, Nu depends more strongly on the viscosity at the top surface than on the viscosity at the bottom boundary.

Finite-amplitude internal wavepacket dispersion and breaking

2001 ◽  
Vol 429 ◽  
pp. 343-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRUCE R. SUTHERLAND
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Internal Waves ◽  
Large Amplitude ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Critical Amplitude ◽  
Fully Nonlinear ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Waves ◽  
Horizontal Wavelength

The evolution and stability of two-dimensional, large-amplitude, non-hydrostatic internal wavepackets are examined analytically and by numerical simulations. The weakly nonlinear dispersion relation for horizontally periodic, vertically compact internal waves is derived and the results are applied to assess the stability of weakly nonlinear wavepackets to vertical modulations. In terms of Θ, the angle that lines of constant phase make with the vertical, the wavepackets are predicted to be unstable if [mid ]Θ[mid ] < Θc, where Θc = cos−1 (2/3)1/2 ≃ 35.3° is the angle corresponding to internal waves with the fastest vertical group velocity. Fully nonlinear numerical simulations of finite-amplitude wavepackets confirm this prediction: the amplitude of wavepackets with [mid ]Θ[mid ] > Θc decreases over time; the amplitude of wavepackets with [mid ]Θ[mid ] < Θc increases initially, but then decreases as the wavepacket subdivides into a wave train, following the well-known Fermi–Pasta–Ulam recurrence phenomenon.If the initial wavepacket is of sufficiently large amplitude, it becomes unstable in the sense that eventually it convectively overturns. Two new analytic conditions for the stability of quasi-plane large-amplitude internal waves are proposed. These are qualitatively and quantitatively different from the parametric instability of plane periodic internal waves. The ‘breaking condition’ requires not only that the wave is statically unstable but that the convective instability growth rate is greater than the frequency of the waves. The critical amplitude for breaking to occur is found to be ACV = cot Θ (1 + cos2 Θ)/2π, where ACV is the ratio of the maximum vertical displacement of the wave to its horizontal wavelength. A second instability condition proposes that a statically stable wavepacket may evolve so that it becomes convectively unstable due to resonant interactions between the waves and the wave-induced mean flow. This hypothesis is based on the assumption that the resonant long wave–short wave interaction, which Grimshaw (1977) has shown amplifies the waves linearly in time, continues to amplify the waves in the fully nonlinear regime. Using linear theory estimates, the critical amplitude for instability is ASA = sin 2Θ/(8π2)1/2. The results of numerical simulations of horizontally periodic, vertically compact wavepackets show excellent agreement with this latter stability condition. However, for wavepackets with horizontal extent comparable with the horizontal wavelength, the wavepacket is found to be stable at larger amplitudes than predicted if Θ [lsim ] 45°. It is proposed that these results may explain why internal waves generated by turbulence in laboratory experiments are often observed to be excited within a narrow frequency band corresponding to Θ less than approximately 45°.

scholarly journals Density Stratification Effects on the Thermal Convection in a Rotating Spherical Shell

2001 ◽  
Vol 203 ◽  
pp. 195-197
Author(s):  
N. Nishikawa ◽  
K. Kusano
Keyword(s):  
Spherical Shell ◽  
Thermal Convection ◽  
Structural Transition ◽  
Rotation Axis ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Density Stratification ◽  
Nonlinear Convection ◽  
Solar Convection Zone ◽  
Solar Convection ◽  
The Stability

The density stratification effects on the thermal convection in a rotating spherical shell, which is the representative of the solar convection zone, are investigated by three dimensional numerical simulations. It is found that, the convection structure in the strongly stratified system is switched from parallel cells aligned to the rotation axis to zonal rolles dominated by the longitudinally averaged mode, as the Rayleigh number increases much larger than the stability threshold. Corresponding to this structural transition, the averaged kinetic helicity reverses the sign in each hemisphere (from negative to positive in the northern hemisphere). The results indicate that the density stratification is much important for the nonlinear convection process in the rotating spherical shell.

On the instability of a three-dimensional attachment-line boundary layer: weakly nonlinear theory and a numerical approach

1986 ◽  
Vol 163 ◽  
pp. 257-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Hall ◽  
Mujeeb R. Malik
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Nonlinear Theory ◽  
Stokes Equations ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Finite Amplitude ◽  
Lower Branch ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear ◽  
Weakly Nonlinear Theory ◽  
Attachment Line

The instability of a three-dimensional attachment-line boundary layer is considered in the nonlinear regime. Using weakly nonlinear theory, it is found that, apart from a small interval near the (linear) critical Reynolds number, finite-amplitude solutions bifurcate subcritically from the upper branch of the neutral curve. The time-dependent Navier–Stokes equations for the attachment-line flow have been solved using a Fourier–Chebyshev spectral method and the subcritical instability is found at wavenumbers that correspond to the upper branch. Both the theory and the numerical calculations show the existence of supercritical finite-amplitude (equilibrium) states near the lower branch which explains why the observed flow exhibits a preference for the lower branch modes. The effect of blowing and suction on nonlinear stability of the attachment-line boundary layer is also investigated.

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