Eye formation in rotating convection

Studies in Rotating Convection

This thesis presents an exploration and analysis of novel phenomena in RayleighBénard convection in a rotating cylinder using direct numerical simulation and equivariant bifurcation analysis. The numerical method used is a second order predictorcorrector method using Chebyshev collocation in the radial and axial directions and a Fourier-Galerkin discretization in the azimuthal direction. This n...

Heat Transport in Rotating Convection

We derive upper bounds for the Nusselt number in innnite Prandtl-number rotating convection. The bounds decay algebraically with Taylor number to the conductive heat transport value; the decay rate depends on boundary conditions. We show moreover that when the rotation is fast enough the purely conductive solution is the globally and nonlinearly attractive xed point; the critical rotation rate ...

Bifurcations of rotating waves in rotating spherical shell convection.

The dynamics and bifurcations of convective waves in rotating and buoyancy-driven spherical Rayleigh-Bénard convection are investigated numerically. The solution branches that arise as rotating waves (RWs) are traced by means of path-following methods, by varying the Rayleigh number as a control parameter for different rotation rates. The dependence of the azimuthal drift frequency of the RWs o...

Vortex statistics in turbulent rotating convection.

The vortices emerging in rotating turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection in water at Rayleigh number Ra=6.0×10{8} are investigated using stereoscopic particle image velocimetry and by direct numerical simulation. The so-called Q criterion is used to detect the vortices from velocity fields. This criterion allows distinguishing vorticity- and strain-dominated regions in the flow by decomposing the...

Travelling wave convection in a rotating layer