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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Magnetically Induced Rotating Rayleigh-Taylor Instability
Published on: March 3, 2017
Non-oberbeck-boussinesq effects in gaseous Rayleigh-Bénard convection
Guenter Ahlers1, Francisco Fontenele Araujo, Denis Funfschilling
1Department of Physics and iQCD, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
Abstract:
Non-Oberbeck-Boussinesq (NOB) effects are measured experimentally and calculated theoretically for strongly turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection of ethane gas under pressure where the material properties strongly depend on the temperature. Relative to the Oberbeck-Boussinesq case we find a decrease of the central temperature as compared to the arithmetic mean of the top- and bottom-plate temperature and an increase of the Nusselt number. Both effects are of opposite sign and greater magnitude than those for NOB convection in liquids like water.
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