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Updated: Jul 26, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Rayleigh-Benard convection in a vertically oscillated fluid layer
1School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0430, USA.
Abstract:
We report on the first quantitative observations of convection in a fluid layer driven by both heating from below and vertical sinusoidal oscillation. Just above onset, convection patterns are modulated either harmonically or subharmonically to the drive frequency. Single-frequency patterns exhibit nearly solid-body rotations with harmonic and subharmonic states always rotating in opposite directions. Flows with both harmonic and subharmonic responses are found near a codimension-two point, yielding novel coexisting patterns with symmetries not found in either single-frequency states. Predictions from linear stability analysis of the onset Rayleigh and wave numbers compare well with experiment, and phase boundaries for coexisting patterns track single-frequency marginal stability curves.
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