Turbulence, waves, and jets in a differentially heated rotating annulus experiment

Mixed-mode solutions in an air-filled differentially heated rotating annulus∗

We present an analysis of the primary bifurcations that occur in a mathematical model that uses the (three-dimensional) Navier-Stokes equations in the Boussinesq approximation to describe the flow of a near unity Prandtl number fluid (i.e. air) in the differentially heated rotating annulus. In particular, we investigate the double Hopf (Hopf-Hopf) bifurcations that occur along the axisymmetric ...

Numerical Analysis of Opposed Rows of Coolant Jets Injected into a Heated Crossflow

The mixing characteristics of coolant air jets with the hot gas exiting the gas turbine combustor’s primary zone is of major importance to the combustor exit temperature profile. In the present work, a three dimensional numerical simulation on the basis of the finite volume method was developed. The aim was to investigate the penetration and mixing characteristics of directly opposed rows of co...

Reconstruction of the 3D flow field in a differentially heated rotating annulus by synchronized particle image velocimetry and infrared thermography measurements

In the earth’s atmosphere baroclinic instability is responsible for the heat and momentum transport from low to high latitudes. Baroclinic instability leads to the growth of multi-scale vortices that accomplish the meridional heat transport. Raymond Hide used a rather simple laboratory experiment to study such vortices in the lab (Hide, 1953). The experiment is comprised by a cooled inner and h...

Double Hopf Bifurcations in the Differentially Heated Rotating Annulus

Hysteresis in a Rotating Differentially Heated Spherical Shell of Boussinesq Fluid

A mathematical model of convection of a Boussinesq fluid in a rotating spherical shell is analyzed using numerical computations guided by bifurcation theory. The fluid is differentially heated on its inner spherical surface, with the temperature increasing from both poles to a maximum at the equator. The model is assumed to be both rotationally symmetric about the polar axis and reflectionally ...