Experiments on patterns and noise in hydrodynamic systems
Abstract
The close relationship between the spatial structure of hydrodynamic flows and the onset of chaos in these systems is described in the context of three experiments. Competing patterns or modes of oscillation of the free surface of a fluid layer give rise to chaotic time evolution that can be explained by a relatively simple model. Competing spatial periodicities in the electrohydrodynamics of a layer of nematic liquid crystal give rise to commensurate, incommensurate, and apparently spatially chaotic phases. New experiments on the evolution of Rayleigh-Benard convection patterns provide a test of models in which a functional of a two-dimensional order-parameter field evolves toward a minimum.
- Publication:
-
Physica Scripta
- Pub Date:
- 1985
- Bibcode:
- 1985PhyS....9...95G
- Keywords:
-
- Chaos;
- Hydrodynamic Equations;
- Noise Spectra;
- Rayleigh-Benard Convection;
- Spatial Distribution;
- Flow Stability;
- Liquid Crystals;
- Periodic Variations;
- Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer