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The oscillatory instability of convection rolls in a low Prandtl number fluid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2006

F. H. Busse
F. H. Busse
Affiliation:
Department of Planetary and Space Science, University of California, Los Angeles
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Abstract

The instability of convection rolls in a fluid layer heated from below is investigated for stress-free boundaries in the limit of small Prandtl number. It is shown that the two-dimensional rolls become unstable to oscillatory three-dimensional disturbances when the amplitude of the convective motion exceeds a finite critical value. The instability corresponds to the generation of vertical vorticity, a mechanism which is likely to operate in the case of a variety of roll-like motions. In all aspects in which the theory can be related to experiments, reasonable agreement with the observations is found.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , 14 March 1972 , pp. 97 - 112
Copyright
© 1972 Cambridge University Press

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References

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