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Interferometric study of two-dimensional Bénard convection cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

R. Farhadieh
Affiliation:
Gas Dynamics Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201
R. S. Tankin
Affiliation:
Gas Dynamics Laboratory, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201

Abstract

A Mach-Zehnder interferometer was used to stud two-dimensional Bénard convection cells. The experiments were performed with distilled water and sea water in the region where density is a linear function of temperature. Two-dimensional convection rolls were formed with Rayleigh numbers as great as 23400. Reversal in the temperature profile was obtained for R/Rc ≥ 3·8, and an overshoot of about 6% was observed at R/Rc = 9·2 and 13·8. This agrees with the values predicted theoretically by Veronis (1966) for stress-free boundaries and Royal (1969) for rigid boundaries. This disagrees with the experimental results of Gille (1967), who reports an overshoot of only 1 ½% at R/Rc = 16. Many of the other results agree with those of other experimenters, such as the relation between the cell height-to-width ratio and Rayleigh number, the relation between the Nusselt number and Rayleigh number, and the value of the critical Rayleigh number.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1974 Cambridge University Press

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