Formation of a periodic structure in convective flow in the case of a stratified fluid subjected to lateral heating

Probe and optical techniques were used to study the structure of the unsteady convective flow generated by lateral heat inputs to a basin containing a stratified fluid with a constant vertical density gradient. It is found that at Rayleigh numbers of 4500 plus or minus 1000, the developing convective flow breaks up into a vertically periodic system of convective cells. The formation of the cells starts in regions with a low density gradient. The cell height depends weakly on the rate of wall temperature variation and the basin depth, and is equal to the distance of the heated fluid from the neutral buoyancy level.