Unsteady two-dimensional convection in a bottom heated supercritical fluid

We consider a closed Rayleigh-Bénard cell containing a fluid near its gas-liquid critical point (CP). Due to the divergence of several physical properties near the CP, large Rayleigh numbers can be obtained even for small temperature differences. In the convective regime, the heat flow which is obtained on long time scales exhibits some characteristics of that observed in turbulent convection in normally compressible fluids: it is composed of plumes in thermal boundary layers, jets on lateral walls and a large-scale flow. Our results show that, as it is the case in turbulent convection, this large-scale flow can suddenly change its orientation.

Isabelle Raspo, Bernard Zappoli, Patrick Bontoux. Unsteady two-dimensional convection in a bottom heated supercritical fluid. Comptes Rendus Mécanique, 2004, 332 (5-6), pp.353-360. ⟨10.1016/j.crme.2004.02.003⟩. ⟨hal-00838378⟩

Journal: Comptes Rendus Mécanique

Date de publication: 01-01-2004

Auteurs:
  • Isabelle Raspo
  • Bernard Zappoli
  • Patrick Bontoux

Digital object identifier (doi): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crme.2004.02.003

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