Pattern formations of 2D Rayleigh–Bénard convection with no‐slip boundary conditions for the velocity at the critical length scales

Abstract

We study the Rayleigh–Bénard convection in a 2D rectangular domain with no‐slip boundary conditions for the velocity. The main mathematical challenge is due to the no‐slip boundary conditions, because the separation of variables for the linear eigenvalue problem, which works in the free‐slip case, is no longer possible. It is well known that as the Rayleigh number crosses a critical threshold Rc, the system bifurcates to an attractor, which is an (m − 1)‐dimensional sphere, where m is the number of eigenvalues, which cross zero as R crosses Rc. The main objective of this article is to derive a full classification of the structure of this bifurcated attractor when m = 2. More precisely, we rigorously prove that when m = 2, the bifurcated attractor is homeomorphic to a one‐dimensional circle consisting of exactly four or eight steady states and their connecting heteroclinic orbits. In addition, we show that the mixed modes can be stable steady states for small Prandtl numbers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Dec 16, 2014
Source ID
10.1002/mma.3317

Entities

People

  • Jie Shen
  • Shouhong Wang
  • Taylan Sengul

Organizations

  • Indiana University
  • National Science Foundation
  • Office of Naval Research
  • Purdue University
  • Yeditepe University

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Control Systems Engineering.
  • Fluid Dynamics.
  • Graph Algorithms and Convex Optimization.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects