Abstract
The dilatation and the pattern formation of convection cells in natural convection driven by internal heat generation, first investigated during the 1970s, are reexamined in this paper using an improved experimental apparatus in order to reduce uncertainties as much as possible. The convective motion in the fluid layer was visualized using reflecting particles (Kalliroscope). Cell dilatation was confirmed in the improved experimental apparatus and then investigated quantitatively by extracting the pattern wavenumber from Fourier analysis of the images recorded by a digital camera. The pattern wavenumber was found to decrease with increasing Rayleigh number. We compare our results with earlier investigations and discuss the influence of the thermal boundary condition at the bottom of the fluid layer on the variation of the wavenumber. Two different structures were observed in the same fluid layer at a relatively high Rayleigh number; an additional cell appears in the original cell (Double cell structure) and the descending flow region around the center of the cell expands laterally like a spoke of wheels (Spoke-like structure). Factors for the formation of such complex structures are discussed.
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Yuji Tasaka: He received his M. Sc. (Eng). in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 from Hokkaido University. He also received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2005 from the same university. He worked in the Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University as a research associate. He is an assistant professor since 2006. His research interests are ultrasonic measurement of liquid metal flow, especially thermal convection, flow instability and transition processes from laminar flow to turbulent flow.
Kengo Yonekura: He received his M.Sc. (Eng.) degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2003 from Hokkaido University. After obtaining M. Sc. he works as an engineer at Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
Yasushi Takeda: He received his M. Sc. (Eng) in Engineering School in 1970 from Tohoku University, and received his Ph.D. (Eng) in 1979 from the same university. He worked in Department of Engineering, Tohoku University as an instructor till 1981 and then moved to Swiss Institute for Nuclear Research. He worked in Paul Scherrer Institute Switzerland as a Senior Researcher since 1988 before he became a professor of Hokkaido University. During his long visit in PSI he received his second title of Ph. D. (Science) from The University of Tokyo in 1996. His research interests are ultrasonic velocity profiling (UVP), flow measurement methodology, vortex dynamics and transition to turbulence.
Takatoshi Yanagisawa: He received his M. Sc. in Graduate School of Science in 1995 from University of Tokyo, and received his D. Sc. in 1998 from the same university. He worked as JSPS post doctoral fellow in Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo till 2001, and now he is working at Institute for Research on Earth Evolution (IFREE), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). His research interests are the flows of Earth’s deep interior, mantle convection and outer-core convection.
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Tasaka, Y., Yonekura, K., Takeda, Y. et al. Dilatation and pattern formation of cells in internally heated convection. J Vis 11, 213–220 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03181709
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03181709