Time-dependent cellular convection

The development of a cellular convection flow as a function of time is investigated for the case of an instantaneous acceleration involving a thermally stratified medium. The considered questions are important in the area of space technology. The possibility of an induction of undesirable time-dependent convection flows by time-dependent acceleration represents an important question for the operation of a space laboratory. The investigation is concerned with cellular convection in a flat rectangular container which is heated from below and cooled from above. Such a system has been studied by Oertel (1979). In the present investigation, the stationary gravitational field of the earth has been replaced by a time-dependent acceleration b(t) in the form of a step function. The results of the investigation are presented in several graphs.