Rayleigh-Benard Convection in Large-Aspect-Ratio Domains

Abstract

The coarsening and wavenumber selection of striped states growing from random initial conditions are studied in a non-relaxational, spatially extended, and far-from-equilibrium system by performing large-scale numerical simulations of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in a large-aspect-ratio cylindrical domain with experimentally realistic boundaries. We find evidence that various measures of the coarsening dynamics scale in time with different power-law exponents, indicating that multiple length scales are required in describing the time dependent pattern evolution. The translational correlation length scales with time as $t^{0.12}$, the orientational correlation length scales as $t^{0.54}$, and the density of defects scale as $t^{-0.45}$. The final pattern evolves toward the wavenumber where isolated dislocations become motionless, suggesting a possible wavenumber selection mechanism for large-aspect-ratio convection.

arXiv comment5 pages, 6 figures

References in corpus (6)

• Domain Coarsening in Systems Far from Equilibrium
• Dynamics and Selection of Giant Spirals in Rayleigh-Benard Convection
• Ordering kinetics of stripe patterns
• Pattern Formation and Dynamics in Rayleigh-Bénard Convection: Numerical Simulations of Experimentally Realistic Geometries
• Domain Coarsening in Electroconvection
• Rayleigh-Benard Convection with a Radial Ramp in Plate Separation

Cited by in corpus (5)

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• Grain boundary dynamics in stripe phases of non potential systems
• Enhanced tracer transport by the spiral defect chaos state of a convecting fluid
• Coarsening in potential and nonpotential models of oblique stripe patterns