Abstract
Convection experiments in helium, unlike those at room temperatures, have generally been limited to measuring mean flow characteristics. Following Sullivan et. al. flow patterns in convecting liquid helium have been shown theoretically to be no more than an order of magnitude more difficult to visualise than in water. A miniaturised optical system fitting inside a cryostat has been built by us and shown to work with convection at room temperatures. Preliminary images have now been produced with helium of flow patterns at reduced Rayleigh numbers of 1.7 and above.
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This research was supported by EPSRC grant number GR/H95075
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Woodcraft, A.L., Lucas, P.G.J., Matley, R.G. et al. Optical observation of convective flow patterns in liquid helium. Czech J Phys 46 (Suppl 1), 85–86 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02569458
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02569458